


The things we do for peace...

by MasterCool



Category: Metal Slug (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-06-02 22:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6585310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasterCool/pseuds/MasterCool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tarma kicked the SV-001's hull, not necessarily excited to begin the second half of his job. He flicked his sunglasses over his eyes and went to town with his trusty wrench, all the while Eri watched from her seat on the tank's side skirt." A retelling of several missions through the eyes of Tarma Roving and Eri Kasamoto.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone.

Hopefully this will satisfy some of the Metal Slug fans out there, specifically Tarma and/or Eri fans. (This isn't really romantic, but if you want it to be, then it can be...i guess. Tarma and Eri are simply my two favorite characters.)

_Takes place during Metal Slug 2_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything regarding the Metal Slug franchise. Thank SNK Playmore for these awesome games and characters, not me.

* * *

It was moments like these when Tarma vehemently cursed the upper echelons for denying his discharge. He liked working with his partner Marco and all, but even he wasn't worth the mess they were currently in.

It was hot.

It was humid.

It was dark.

There was sand everywhere.

And they were stuck.

Their SV-001 metal slug stopped. Tarma said it was all the sand, but the others seemed to know it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The second in command climbed out of the super vehicle and stepped down into the sand next to his close friend.

"Just lay it on me…" Marco sighed to his brown-haired counterpart. He was frustrated, to say the least.

"We're not going anywhere."

Fio seemed to flinch at his response. She was standing off to the side listening, not wanting to get in the way of the 'pros' as she put it. Marco pinched the bridge of his nose.

"But it's fixable," Tarma added, lifting his sunglasses over his forehead. "Gonna take some time though…"

"How are we on gas and ammo?"

"Fine. Kinda ironic, huh? We got ammo for an immobile tank, yet we have none for ourselves," Tarma dusted the sand off his pants.

Marco looked at the dirty, steaming vehicle behind him and groaned, "We need it, especially in a place like this. As much as I want to get out of here, I'm not going to risk anything."

Tarma nodded in agreement and glanced at Fio who was watching them with a worried look on her face. He studied the metal slug, noting its shabby condition, before his attention was drawn to a pair of combat boots swinging from the other tread. Feeling a hand rest on his shoulder, he turned back to his comrade.

"I guess I'm gonna need your expert skills again. We're not getting through this mission without that hunk of metal, so do whatever's necessary."

"Oh boy… I get to show off my skills, lucky me," Tarma scoffed sarcastically, earning a grin from Marco.

"Only thing we gotta worry about now is an ambush or starvation. Besides those, we ain't on a tight schedule."

"Or the possibility that I can't get it started…"

Marco looked at the brown-haired man with an apprehensive expression, inwardly hoping he was joking. The blonde fastened his near-empty canteen to his backpack, "Just light some torches and keep an eye out in case anything wanders up. Haven't met much resistance so far, but I doubt the guys up top warned us about these catacombs because they're a nice vacation spot…"

Tarma chuckled as Marco loaded his handgun with the few remaining bullets he had left. The Lieutenant looked at his Captain with raised eyebrows and spoke in a humorous manner, "Are you going somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," he spoke, only to receive an 'are you crazy' look from Tarma. "I need you to keep at the slug, but I'm gonna scout ahead and see if I can find…anything."

Tarma sighed and took his sunglasses off his head to clean them, "Sir, yes sir…"

"Um…Captain Marco?"

The two soldiers turned to see their comrade Fio standing beside them. Tarma noticed upon first meeting her that she had an upbeat personality, but it was currently masked by one of determination and uncertainty. This was their first mission together, and it had started rather quickly, so getting to know each other was not at the top of everyone's to-do list.

"Would you mind if I tagged along? For…back-up?"

Marco didn't seem in favor of the plan, but Tarma nudged him in the shoulder, "Just let the girl follow you. It'll ease my conscious a bit, knowing I didn't let you wander off to die."

"Oh please… I need you to stay safe while you work you know."

"I won't be alone," Tarma told him with a smile, remembering their last comrade who seemed fit to stay seated on the slug's tread.

Marco thought for a moment, then realized what he meant and mumbled something incoherent.

"Alright Fia, let's get going," he waved to the girl beside Tarma.

"Um…it's Fio, actually…sir…"

Marco stopped in his tracks and frowned. He hadn't even bothered to learn the girl's names since they had been thrown into this mission so swiftly. He looked at her apologetically, "Oh…well, just don't fall behind and get lost."

"Have fun, you two…" Tarma waved with a smile.

"Just get to work, Tarma. I need that tank."

"Sure you do."

Lieutenant Roving put his shades back on, despite the near pitch black atmosphere of the cave. Turning around, he found his way back to the slug thanks to a dim light glowing from the vehicle's backside. There sat Eri, the second SPARROWS soldier to accompany Marco and Tarma on their mission. A candle rested on the slug's body next to her as she sharpened her knife and organized her tools and ammo. Tarma climbed up the SV-001, intent on going back in to finish the interior repairs, before looking down at the girl.

"You all right?"

Eri seemed surprised and jumped a little. She looked above her at Tarma's dark face and nodded plainly. The second-in-command noticed her empty eyes, concluding that she was merely a loner type. She was put on this mission with them for a reason however, and Tarma felt he could trust her despite her lack of engagement.

Before heading inside the metal slug, Tarma lit several torches and stuck them in the sand around them, giving him adequate vision. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and dove into the much needed repairs.

* * *

_Eri's POV_

We were stuck.

I didn't really know how or why I was put into this mess with the other girl, but I wasn't particularly enjoying it. I know I was supposed to be working with the heroes of the Morden war, but I really didn't understand what was going on. They seemed way too…carefree.

Who knows…? Maybe I was just too uptight.

We had blown through that Abul Abbas' revolutionary army swiftly, just the four of us, and now we were told to venture into some ancient mines or something. I wasn't too caught up on the details. The Captain and the girl Fio, who came with me from SPARROWS, disappeared deeper into the cave for whatever reason. They're more than capable of taking care of themselves, so I didn't intervene.

And now I was left with this guy…the lieutenant. I think his name was Tarmicle or something…

And he was wearing sunglasses…in the dark…

I sat still on the slug's tread and organized my belongings, keeping my inner thoughts to myself. Not like they mattered anyway. After this mission, I'd be sent back to SPARROWS, my next mission would begin, and I'd never see these 'heroes' again.

I felt the slug shift under added weight, and I knew it was the lieutenant climbing aboard. Apparently he had been left behind with me to fix the vehicle. I thought of offering my help, but figured he knew what he was doing and I'd just get in the way. So I just sat quietly like I had so many other times.

Then I heard him say, "You all right?" It surprised me. No one had really spoken to me much since we left, but then again, I had made no effort to start conversation. I tilted my head up behind me to find him looking down from atop the slug's turret. His sunglasses shielded his eyes, which I could barely see to begin with, and his lips were pulled up in a slight smile. I nodded and returned his small smile, once again deciding not to say anything, and he nodded back. Before heading into the tank, he seemed to remember something and climbed back down. I silently watched him light and place several torches around our area, much to my inner delight. I continued sharpening my knife and he climbed up the vehicle once again and dove inside to work. I honestly wondered what he was doing. I was never the mechanical type, and I even had trouble driving vehicles, let alone repairing them. I really ought to learn sometime, because relying on others was something that I didn't like to do…

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my thumb, and noticed I cut myself on the knife's blade. It wasn't too deep, but deep enough to bleed and possibly get infected. Stupid. Just plain stupid.

I searched around for some type of cloth but found nothing. I finally resorted to ripping a strip off the hem of my white shirt and using it as a bandage. I put my knife in its scabbard and fastened it to my hip with a sigh. Then I heard the lieutenant lift himself out of the slug before going back in moments after.

And five minutes later, he did the same thing…over and over…and over again.

About the sixth time he peeked out of the top of the SV-001, I looked up at him and saw his handgun ready and his jaw clenched. I sighed to myself, but couldn't help smiling. I guess these guys weren't as reckless and clumsy as they acted. But it also bothered me slightly. He seemed tired and on edge. Not to mention he wasn't smiling anymore…

Was I really not dependable enough to keep watch? Did he not trust me?

"Hey, Lieutenant," I spoke, clearing my throat beforehand to avoid any rusty vocals. He looked down at me with surprise, as if he didn't think I could speak English. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to warn you if anything shows up." It was true. I needed him to focus on the repairs if we wanted to get out. It wasn't like I could do it. All I could do was keep watch and protect him if needed…

And then I saw it again. The same smile he wore on his face as before, only a tad bigger and brighter with some white teeth thrown in the mix.

* * *

_Tarma's POV_

Something was up.

I don't know what it was, but whatever it was, it was _up._ And whatever _up_ meant, I knew it wasn't good.

I think…

Other than that, the repairs were going nicely. Practically every part needed a little tweaking, from the main computer to the artillery and polish. The interior was almost finished, then all that was left was the exterior's conditioning.

I peeked my head outside the slug with my pistol ready and surveyed the area. I realized Eri was literally feet away from me, but I wanted to get my own view of our surroundings.

Eri… That was her name. Come to think of it, I had almost forgotten. I think Marco's obliviousness was beginning to rub off on me…

She seemed okay though. I don't think I needed to worry.

I returned to finish up the computer repairs and reappeared atop the slug five minutes later. Nothing. All that was there were the torches, Eri, and lots and lots of sand. I frowned and wiped the sweat from my brow. I had the feeling that something was watching us, yet there was never anything there. Then I heard the most pleasant noise I had heard all day.

"Hey, Lieutenant," I looked down at the woman who still sat on the slug's cold tread, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to warn you if anything shows up."

I smiled. For multiple reasons actually. One, I was uneasy. Two, she had noticed. And three, she had decided to talk.

I looked down at her and saw the corners of her lips tug upwards, like she knew I was looking and tried to suppress her smile. I zipped back down into the slug to grab my tools and rags before climbing out and jumping onto the sandy turf below. I put my metal box down and wiped off my greasy face with an oily rag, which obviously didn't help at all. Not sure why I thought it would…

I frowned and tossed it into the sand. I heard a chuckle and turned to see Eri looking at me.

"You all right?" I heard her say, remembering my words to her not too long ago. I grinned and pushed my sunglasses atop my head.

"Yeah, thanks. Just a bit of work to do on the exterior and computer and we should be good. It should be able start up soon, but we're gonna need it in top form if we wanna ride it through this entire place."

She hummed and nodded her head before turning back to pack her weapons and ammo up.

* * *

Tarma kicked the SV-001's hull, not necessarily excited to begin the second half of his job. He flicked his sunglasses over his eyes and went to town with his trusty wrench, all the while Eri watched from her seat on the tank's side skirt.

* * *

**A/N:** I read a good quote somewhere (can't remember where) saying that "Metal Slug is like fungus. It's everywhere and everyone knows about it, but no one talks about it."

If you read and enjoyed this first chapter, then PLEASE leave a review. I'm not hungry for recognition or anything stupid like that, but knowing that at least _SOMEONE_ out there read and enjoyed my Metal Slug story would bring great joy to me.

Thanks as always.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** If I owned anything regarding Metal Slug, I'd be doing a lot more than just writing this story.

* * *

_Eri's POV_

He was working again, and from what he told me, things seemed to be going rather well. Not that I really knew what he was talking about to begin with, but…

I peeked over the side of the tank to get a glimpse of his work, hoping he wouldn't notice me. It looked like he was conducting surgery with his wrench, and I could only dream of doing that myself.

"So your name's Eri, right?" he asked, scaring me half to death. That also marked the first time in forever I heard someone say my name. "Where'd you come from? SPARROWS, was it?"

"Yeah…sir," was all I could say, remembering to add his title to the end. He looked at me and smiled again. I was beginning to wonder if he'd ever look at me without a goofy grin on his face.

"Please, just call me Tarma," he chuckled to himself. "I doubt I'm your superior in many things anyway."

I smiled and waved my hand from side to side, "Well, you're certainly my superior when it comes to mechanics…"

"Wow…" he turned around and looked at me, "I've been trying to get Marco to say that for years, and now a cute girl I just met said it without even a hint of persuasion…"

Grudgingly, I felt heat rise into my cheeks, and I inwardly scolded myself for being so easily affected.

The man laughed and continued on with his work and his questions, "So what did you do to get dispatched with us?"

I collected myself and shrugged nonchalantly, not that he could see me anyway, "Not really sure. I'm just a simple demolition soldier. I thought you guys were in charge…"

Tarma shook his head, "We don't get any say in what goes on up top. If we did, I wouldn't be here right now – hell, I wouldn't even be a soldier anymore."

I could hear the disappointment in his voice, and I couldn't help but imagine the possibility of him sharing a similar past as me…

No. What did he know about what I've been through? What did anyone know?

Nothing, that's what, and no one ever would.

"Do anything before joining SPARROWS? You don't seem that green to me," he turned his head towards me in utter curiosity. For some reason I felt compelled to explain myself to him, but I knew I shouldn't and wouldn't tell too much.

"I worked as a spy for a little while. You know, some espionage here and there, until I transferred to the Special Forces," I told him. I don't know why I was telling him this, but the words just rolled out of my mouth, as if I was desperate for someone to hear my story.

He smiled again and wiped his hands with a sandy rag, "Things catch up to ya, huh? Needed some new scenery?"

I almost scoffed at him, but something inside me warned me not to revert to my old self. I was always somewhat bitter to strangers. I don't think he'd care, but I swallowed my immaturity and put on a brave face, something that I rarely did.

"I guess you can say that. I was just tired…of pretty much everything. Sometimes things build up past your breaking point…"

He chuckled. Then he started laughing, and I felt like throwing my knife at him. "You should really talk to Marco about that, I'm sure he knows everything about breaking points!"

I turned away from him and pouted unintentionally. I guess I overestimated his maturity. To think I actually thought he'd listen and understand…

Then he stopped, and I heard him clear his throat, "But yeah, I know what you mean. I went to a Special Tactics Academy a few years back after high school, and before I knew it, I had saved the President and was promoted until I couldn't leave."

My gaze turned towards him and I immediately felt guilty for my previous thoughts, after the initial surprise wore off. I sat still on the slug's tread and waited to see if he'd continue—which he did.

"Then I met Marco, and he was enough to keep me around for a war, and now I'm here…"

I pushed my thoughts aside and dove in head first, "Why didn't you just leave if you didn't want to stay?"

It was his turn to scoff, "Trust me, I tried all I could. The people up there don't care what you want, they just want you. Fighting for them is like pouring salt in an open wound. I'm basically forced to fight for my captors."

I dropped my gaze to the sandy floor and listened to the metallic clanks of his tools on the SV-001. Moments later, I decided to break the silence, "When I asked to be transferred to SPARROWS, it was like I asked to work for the enemy. Normally those types of requests aren't even considered, but somehow mine got through and was granted…"

I heard the noises stop and his tools hit the sand. I could practically feel his shaded eyes piercing into me, and he wasn't smiling, "Are you glad?"

It certainly wasn't what I expected. I contemplated his question. It seemed so simple, but so complex at the same time. Was I glad? Glad that I got to stop spying and assassinating? Glad that my conscious wasn't consumed by conspiracies and victims anymore?

"Yeah…" I smiled faintly, "Yeah, I think I am glad…"

"Then that's really all that matters. I don't want to be here, but I certainly don't regret joining. If you can make do with what you have and where you are, you can start anew whenever you want." I listened and considered his words more carefully than I'd like to admit. "I'm sure being stuck in some catacombs with me and a damaged tank isn't your ideal thought of a fresh start, but hey…" he shrugged and stood up to stretch. I couldn't help but giggle, surprised that I wasn't in absolute agreement with him.

A few minutes of silence overtook us and I sat twiddling my thumbs as he climbed into the slug and back out again. I watched him pull one of the lit torches out of the sand and walk towards me.

"Mind giving me a hand with this?" he asked before practically shoving the torch into my hands.

"Sure," I said, despite not having much of an option. I stood up from my seat and felt my stiff legs stretch as I followed him to the back of the slug. He knelt down in the sand and motioned for me to follow, which I did. I lifted the torch to provide him with as much light as possible and quietly watched him tamper with greasy nuts and bolts. Being the individual loner that I was, I couldn't stop my mind from noticing the short distance between us. I hadn't been this close to a single person in quite some time…

He offered a few grunts and sighs here and there as he tightened and unscrewed what seemed to be a maze of metallic parts. I was astonished by his work, amazed that he knew exactly what to do with each and every single screw inside the super vehicle. Finally, I built up some courage and decided to speak my mind.

"So…" I began, trying my hardest not to sound stupid, "What exactly are you doing?"

He turned to look at me with a smile on his face. Mission failed. I must have sounded ridiculous. Fortunately, I didn't think he could see the blush on my face.

"Good question," he laughed, and I just sat there and blinked a few times, utterly dumbfounded. "Some of the internal computer's components are connected through this hatch here," I noticed the small door in the tank's armor that lay open and nodded. "Problem is they make these things so damn complicated they're near impossible to fix. The computer's stuck in a hibernation state, but I think tinkering with these wires should do something."

"Oh…" was pretty much all I could say. I saw him smile again as his hands dove back into the hatch.

We continued working for a good amount of time afterwards. It honestly felt good to be of some use after keeping to myself for the beginning of the mission. I think he appreciated it as well, or at least that's what I wanted to think.

About five minutes later I heard something shuffle in the sand behind us and whipped my head around to see nothing. The lieutenant didn't seem to notice, or care, since he was completely absorbed in the tank's backside. I shook off the strange feeling and turned back to watch him, handing him certain tools and giving light in the process. Then, just moments later, I heard it again. Only this time it felt louder and more defined, like it was happening in multiple places. I stared behind us, but saw nothing but black and sand. My hand subconsciously moved towards my knife secured on my hip, and I saw Tarma turn towards me out of the corner of my eye.

He looked at me for a few seconds, a confused frown on his face, before asking, "Something wrong?"

My eyes finished surveying the area, but nothing was in sight. I relaxed and looked at him before answering. "No… Just thought I heard something. Probably just in my head."

"If you say so…"

Not even a minute later we heard it. A raspy, animalistic moan travelled through the darkness and into our ears. I had never been one to be scared easily, yet I couldn't help but feel the shivers run down my spine. Tarma slowly stood up and made his way towards the front of the slug, motioning for me to follow. I did as I was told and stood up on the slug's tread behind him as he loaded his handgun and pointed it in the direction of the noise. I did the same with my own pistol, taking note that I only had four bullets left.

"Marco?" Tarma questioned aloud, but got nothing in return. The shuffling noise was getting louder and louder, as if something was walking straight towards us. I looked anxiously at Tarma and noticed a bead of sweat running down his face. I pointed my gun toward the darkness and tried to calm my rapid heartbeat.

"Hey, you there?" he tried again.

"Fio…?" I attempted, but cursed my shaky voice. I narrowed my eyes for a moment, and that's when we saw it. Its bandaged head and arms came into view, and as soon as we heard the deafening moan again, Tarma's gun went off.

_Bang_

Once.

_Bang_

Twice.

_Bang_

Three times.

The thing dropped to the sand in a pile of mere bandages, and I tried to swallow the lump that was in my throat. I looked at Tarma for the millionth time as he reloaded his gun; his sunglasses perched on top of his head. Without a minute to rest, several more moans came from all around us, and my body tensed immediately.

He looked at me with a serious expression, one that I hadn't seen before, "You ready?"

I took a deep breath and nodded, "I got four shots left…"

"Here," he tossed me a spare clip, which I muttered a 'thanks' in return for. "We can always use the slug if we need to. We've got plenty of ammo for it, but I'll need a few seconds to ready it if need be."

"Right."

I watched Tarma turn to his right and begin shooting. I'd never admit this to anyone, but at that moment, I was scared to turn around and face what was approaching behind me. I swallowed hard and breathed deep. I was a soldier, this was what I did. We were out of explosives, save for the slug's cannon, but I had plenty of armaments to deal with a few…mummies.

I thought about that for a second. Were these things actually _mummies_?

Tarma's gunshots brought me back to reality and I spun around, setting my sights on my first victim ten feet away. I shot once and hit it in the shoulder, and was taken back when it barely flinched. I shot again and hit its chest and it just moaned. My third bullet put it in the ground.

Two others limped in close behind my first kill and I took aim with the last bullet in my mag. I pulled the trigger and...

I missed…

I swore colorfully, disgusted with myself, and swiftly reloaded in record time. My next shot went straight through the forehead of my intended prey. That a girl, Eri.

"Nice shot, private!"

I turned to see Tarma laughing with a huge grin on his face, while shooting his pistol with one hand and giving me a thumbs up with the other. Instead of ignoring him like I normally would have done, I laughed. I didn't sneer at him for being immature, I actually laughed at something goofy. I guess the heat was starting to get to me…

I finished off the other mummy and yelled back to him with a smirk, "I'm not a private!" Our gunshots rang in our ears, but his comeback was nearly automatic.

"Then don't miss again!"

My face scrunched up from embarrassment, but I kept smiling anyway. I don't know why I was smiling, but for whatever reason, I was almost enjoying myself. I cleared out a few more mummies and peeked back at the lieutenant, who was shooting with a devilish smile plastered on his face. Not even five minutes ago we were apprehensive about our situation, and now we were laughing and shooting like a couple of berserkers. It was…amusing, to say the least. I don't think I've ever laughed and shot a gun at the same time before.

"Hey, Eri!" I heard him call my name.

I turned my head and yelled, but kept my eyes on my targets, "What?!"

Turns out he had jumped next to me and I, once again, made a fool of myself by screaming in his face.

"Oh…sorry…"

He just smiled and shook his head, "I'm gonna have to man the turret, 'cause there's a whole bunch of these things crawling in and I'm out of ammo. Gonna need you to cover me for a bit."

"But I only have three—" I sighed when I realized he had already hopped inside the slug.

Well, time to prove my worth. One shot, one kill.

I surveyed the perimeter, seeing and hearing upwards of ten…things slowly limping towards me and the slug. I concentrated and took out three of them with my last three bullets. As another approached me from the side, I swiftly unsheathed my knife and threw it between the creature's eyes, that is, if it had any. I frantically ran back to the slug and grabbed my empty shotgun out of my backpack with one hand and a torch with my other. I didn't want to melee these things, but I didn't have much of a choice. I decided to let them come closer so I could see. A good defense is the best offense.

"How's it looking?" I asked.

His muffled voice barely found its way to my ears, "Just hold 'em off for a few more seconds!"

I tightened my grip on the barrel of my shotgun and swung at my first target, smacking its head clean off its shoulders. A cloud of dust formed from the beheaded body, making it difficult to breathe. Another came and I whipped my torch at it, setting it aflame. Hearing a noise behind me, I turned around, but my left arm was stopped and the torch fell to the ground. I looked at the mummy holding me in shock as two others came in from behind. For consisting of bandages and sand, these things were extremely strong. I struggled, but couldn't get my arm free and took too much time. The other two closed in on me and began emitting a terrible shriek, much to my horror. I finally realized that I messed up…big time.

"Tarma!" I yelled out of desperation. Luckily, I received an immediate response.

"Duck!"

Without even thinking, I pulled my feet off the ground and I fell to the sand below as HMG rounds tore through the mummies above me. They fell near me, but I just stayed there as Tarma cleared out the rest. Moments later, the gunfire stopped and silence took over the cave again. Then I saw a pair of boots stop in front of me.

"Are you okay?"

I didn't even want to look at him. I felt so embarrassed with myself I couldn't even see straight. He offered me his hand to help me up, but I just ignored it and pulled myself up from the sand.

"Sorry about that. A little closer than I thought…" he apologized with another one of his persuasive smiles.

"No…" I muttered, "It was my fault. Sorry for being dead weight…"

I walked past him and began packing my supplies up again. I wasn't trying to sulk, but it was kind of hard no to…

He walked towards me with a more serious tone, "Hey, come on now… Don't tell me you're one of those hard-nosed, pride-loving soldiers. You did fine, no reason to mope about it…"

My body tensed a bit, but I knew he was completely right. I didn't care about pride, but relying on myself all these years conditioned me so that I wouldn't be weak and need others. I never even had _others_.

And now that I wanted to start 'anew', as Tarma had said, I'd have to swallow my stupid past characteristics.

"You're right…sorry…"

"Nothing to apologize—"

"And…" I interrupted him, "Thanks. You saved me back there. I guess I owe you now, huh?"

As expected, he gave me a reassuring smile, "Nothing to thank me for. That's what comrades do, right?"

Comrades… I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I guess it is…"

Maybe it was possible after all…

* * *

_Tarma's POV_

Well that was a mess. But it was kinda fun. Just a little.

Certainly beats fixing this stupid hunk of scrap metal.

I quickly scanned over Eri, concluding that she was okay. I guess she was humiliated for losing a fist fight to a mummy, and I was a tad disappointed. I didn't think she was one of those stubborn, pride-driven soldiers, but I guess everyone wasn't like Marco and I.

"You're right…sorry…" she apologized. Well now, maybe she _was_ like Marco and I. Needed a little work, but I think she could do it.

"And… Thanks. You saved me back there. I guess I owe you now, huh?" I knew that was coming. The old 'thank you for doing your job' excuse. Did it occur to her that I sat on my ass while she fought all those things? I'd have to straighten that out with her later.

I stood there for a bit, basking in our victory over the mummies. She was back at her old spot, packing her equipment up and keeping a tight ship. I figured I'd get back to the slug or contact Marco, but she surprisingly approached me seconds later.

"So…" she began, and I could tell she was a bit uneasy, "what were those things?"

I can't say I didn't expect that either, "I guess they were mummies… What else?"

"But…"

I sighed, took a seat in the sand and lied back against the front of the slug. She just stared at me like a deer in headlights.

"'We carry the burdens of war on our shoulders in search of, and to ensure, everlasting peace,'" I quoted in the most intellectual voice I could muster.

She seemed to get the point, "Who said that?"

"The idiot who left us here…"

I pulled my sunglasses over my head and watched her take a seat in the sand a few feet away.

"War brings all kinds of bad things to the world, and those who have to deal with it, like us, often experience crazy, unexplainable things…" I said as if telling a child a bedtime story. "Once you leave the battlefield, these things no longer exist. If you go telling ordinary people you saw and fought mummies, everyone would call you insane. But if you told _me_ that…well, I'd still call you insane…" I joked, and I saw her lips curve upwards, "But I'd believe you."

I stared straight ahead into the darkness, enjoying the peace and quiet after all the commotion. I looked at Eri, and she seemed deep in thought. I noticed that she did that a lot, and I guessed she had a ton of moral questions floating around in her head, most likely the effects of a troubled upbringing. I sighed, preparing to lift my sore body off the sand to go work, but not until I closed my eyes for a few moments.

"Let me tell ya," I yawned, "The things we do for peace…"

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, there ya have it. Chapter 2. I expect upwards of 2 or 3 more chapters. My optimistic goal is to write a sequel about Tarma and Eri's mission in MS4, but I don't think I'll get around to it for some time. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for the agonizingly slow updates.

Thanks as always.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to SNK Playmore for everything as always.

* * *

_Eri's POV_

" _We carry the burdens of war on our shoulders in search of, and to ensure, everlasting peace."_

I sat in the sand, deep in thought. Tarma was lying against the slug just feet away from me with his shades on. Hundreds of images and memories zoomed through my head at the same time, making it difficult for me to think. I was beginning to realize just how much this man was opening my eyes. Never before had I felt the need to rethink and evaluate how or why I've lived. My upbringing had been a crutch my entire life, crippling me before I could seriously make a living. I thought I could mask everything by focusing on work, but that led me to spying and assassinating, which further worsened my conscious.

I transferred to the SPARROWS, thinking I could get by being a soldier. It was pretty low key for a certain amount of time, as I worked as a demolition expert and began climbing up the rank ladder. I didn't socialize or care much. I honestly just watched time go by as I did what needed to be done…and nothing else. The girl who I came here with, Fio, had previously approached me, intent on gaining some sort of connection…or friendship, but I just shot her down every time. It wasn't that I didn't like her or anything, I just didn't really know what friends were or how to cherish them. I acted the same way when our mission started with the Lieutenant and Captain. And then we got stuck and I began to feel…

Feel what? Confidence? Meaning? Compassion for others?

Why?

Was it him? Or were they all like this?

These questions swarmed my brain and I couldn't keep up. I honestly had no answers, but I knew something was different. I actually felt like I was living, like I was carrying my own weight along with others. And despite the short amount of time we'd spent together, those _others_ were beginning to matter.

This mission started out like every other before; a chore. The only thing I was concerned with was getting it over with. But now, for whatever reason, I actually cared how I did it, how _we_ did it, and why we did it.

I glanced over at the Lieutenant's still figure. He mentioned wanting to leave the soldier's life behind, but the Captain was enough to make him stay. I had barely interacted with the Captain at all, but if the Lieutenant was any indication, I honestly wouldn't mind working with them again…

In the past twenty-four hours, they had become the closest things to comrades I ever had. I wondered if Fio felt the same; if these two men really had an 'effect' on people, or if it was just me and my horrible loneliness.

I was brought out of my musing by a strange noise to my right. I turned to my companion, only to hear another snore escape his mouth.

"Is…he sleeping?" I unintentionally whispered to myself. How could he fall asleep in a place and time like this? Either my opinion of him was wrong and he was extremely irresponsible, or he was just _really_ tired. Knowing what he had been going through with the Slug, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Still, we had a mission to complete and allies to save. I cursed myself again for my shortcomings. There would be no need to wake him if I only knew how to fix the tank myself…

…

"Lieutenant…?" I said softly, and rather counter intuitively. I stood over his sitting form before giving his shoulder a small nudge. "Lieutenant, you have to wake up…"

I watched him stir and I had to fight every urge to leave him alone. "Lieutenant Tarma…"

He bolted up from against the tank in the blink of an eye, scaring the living daylights out of me as I felt my behind hit the sandy floor.

"Marco…?!" Tarma said stertorously. He frantically took his shades off and looked around as if we were in danger. He looked like he was in the middle of a nightmare, and I wasn't even sure he knew I was there.

"L-Lieutenant…?" I squeaked out, still on the ground from my fall. His head whipped down to look at me and realization washed over his face.

"Eri?"

"Yessir…" I tried to lift myself off the sand before being immediately pulled up by him.

"Are you all right? What happened?"

I was never one for flattery, and even though he had no idea what was going on I couldn't help but feel delighted by his thoughtfulness.

"Yes…I'm fine. You fell asleep," I told him shyly, and watched as a frown formed on his face. "I…think you had a nightmare."

"A nightmare, huh?" He asked and I nodded in return. "How come you were on the ground looking like you saw a ghost?"

"Oh," I slouched my shoulders in embarrassment. "I tried to wake you…and you kinda jumped up and scared me a little…"

As expected, Tarma started laughing and my face turned red. "Well, sorry about that! Thanks for saving the mission from my lazy ass."

I couldn't help but frown. It didn't surprise me that he just laughed it off as he did with everything else. I was certainly no stranger to nightmares and I wanted to think he was the same…

"Um… Are you sure you're all right?" I asked hesitantly. "You looked really troubled when you woke up…"

He turned to me with one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, don't worry. It was a dream after all."

I remained silent as he leaned against the slug. I heard him sigh and take his sunglasses off. For the first time my eyes met his, and it was like looking at an entirely different person.

"They can't hurt you, Eri. They're just dreams."

Normally I would've gotten angry at someone for assuming I consistently have nightmares, but I knew he was completely serious and right. Once again our conversation turned to focus me, as if he knew what I had dealt with all my life. It was unfair to me, but it was time I realized my troubles and listened for advice.

"I think Marco died in my dream. But then you woke me up and I realized that he's still out there, and it's up to us to save him. It doesn't matter what happens in your dreams, it matters what you do in reality."

My eyes were stuck on my feet but my ears were stuck on him. What he said seemed like common sense, but when you're trapped by yourself common sense is no longer natural. After all this time it was comforting to have someone explain such things to me. He pushed off of the slug and I looked to see him smiling at me.

"Sorry to sour the mood Eri. I didn't mean it."

My racing mind was keeping me from talking, but I didn't know what to say anyway. 'Thank you' would be appropriate, but I was Eri Kasamoto, and it was hard for me to say that.

"I really gotta finish this stupid thing," he said pointing to the tank. "Take it easy Eri. You seem tired. Lemme know if anything goes on."

And with that he gave me a final smile before heading to the back of the slug. I stayed put, standing in the sand. I hated how my problems always got in the way of everything. I'm sure he was trying to help, but…

Here I am being selfish. He's probably loathing this mission with me…

* * *

_Tarma's POV_

Well I'm an idiot. I hope Marco and Fio are still alive; otherwise my life will be ruined.

All because I fell asleep like a lazy good-for-nothing.

Thank god Eri woke me up, even though it led to a rather unfavorable conversation. I had no idea what her life was like, but she didn't seem to argue with my assumptions.

I came to the conclusion that she was a good girl. I liked her. Just needed a few scratches polished on the inside, and whether my fat mouth was polishing or scraping, I don't know.

The mood around us was as dreary as our environment. I regret saying what I did and I hope she wasn't taking it too seriously. But alas, missions and lives came before feelings and emotions.

I needed to fix this blasted tank. Also just remembered I had a pack of Natto left. Groovy.

That's it. I'll communion Eri. I'm sure she'd enjoy some.

With my procrastination hitting an all time high, I peeked around the slug and saw Eri sitting in her original spot on the tank's tread. She looked less than thrilled to say the least. I climbed up and into the slug for the last of my rations and hopped back out.

"Hey Eri," I said lounging next to her on the little empty room the tread offered.

"Finished already?" Her tone was slightly sarcastic, but it was much better than nothing.

"I wish. You want some? Just remembered I had these left."

She didn't bother looking at me or my treat. She clearly wasn't very interested, but enough to ask, "What is it?"

"Just some fermented soybeans. Don't have any rice, but… Have some. They're good and you need your strength."

Her slouched back straightened and she looked at me with a curious expression. "You mean like, Natto…?"

Well look at that. I figured she was Asian. "Yeah, exactly."

Her complexion brightened like the sun. "Well, yes please… If it's all right…"

I laughed and handed her my spare pair of chopsticks. I decided to converse as we dug into the measly portion, "Don't mean to pry, but where are you from? You seem to know what you're eating."

Eri seemed to be in a much better mood, "Oh, I'm from Hiroshima."

I raised my eyebrows, "Hiroshima, huh? Haven't been there in a while…"

Eri raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You've been there before?"

I smiled, "Yup. I'm originally from Hokkaido, so I'd been able to make my way down a few times in the past."

Her personality lightened significantly, "You're from Japan?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the girl, "Yes, I am from Japan and I have been to Hiroshima. I guess that's another thing we have in common."

The SPARROWS soldier frowned, "Oh really? What else?"

"The fact that we were both dragged out into this no-good wasteland," I spoke and wiped my oily face. She laughed before putting her chopsticks down.

"Thanks a lot Lieutenant," she spoke with a sincere smile which I gladly returned.

"Don't mention it. Glad I could help. I needed it just as much as you did."

Her frown returned, and I found myself becoming more and more confused by her sporadic expressions as time went on.

"Any luck on the slug?"

Well that would certainly be a reason to frown. "Not yet, but I've made improvements. Good news is I think I can fix it. Bad news is I still don't know how long it will take."

I watched her nod her head in recognition, "I'd love to help…if you'd let me, Lieutenant."

"Enough of the formal talk, Sergeant," I frowned at her. She frowned back.

I found that I enjoyed watching her reactions.

"Let's get to work," I smiled at her.

…

She smiled back.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for the long wait and boring/short chapter. More will come with more excitement and development (and shorter update time). In a perfect world I'd also like to do a sequel and another short story or two.

Thanks for reading as always. Drop a review. I'd love to know your thoughts. I'd be happy just to know that someone has read it.


	4. Chapter 4

_Eri’s POV_

I was confused again. I didn’t understand. This mission had been less of fighting bad guys and more of me evaluating my messed up and fragile life. But I couldn’t help it. Practically everything the Lieutenant said had me thinking, and I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not.

After the whole dream incident, he must have noticed me struggling, because he just apologized and went to work on the tank. Then out of nowhere he decided to share his Natto with me.

And then I learned he was from Japan.

He was everything I wasn’t. Instead of moping around with the tank, he took the time, as well as his share of rations, to ‘make up’ with me. It was things like that which I couldn’t fathom. People like that who I dreamed of being with.

He asked if I wanted to help him with the tank, which I genuinely said yes to. Now I was waiting for him. He got the idea of trying to contact Captain Rossi with an old radio he had, but I honestly didn’t expect much.

“Hey. It’s me,” I heard him say into the device less than enthusiastically. “Pick up your damn line. If you’re alive then say something.”

I sighed, figuring his radio just wasn’t working. Something in the back of my mind also reminded me that maybe the Captain _couldn’t_ answer. I didn’t really want to think of that.

“No luck,” he said as I turned to him. “I just feel bad for Fio. Poor girl’s gotta deal with that idiot…”

I could tell he was frustrated but I couldn’t help but ask, “I thought you and Captain Rossi were friends?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m allowed to call him an idiot,” he grinned, earning one from me. “Let’s see if we can get this finished.”

I nodded and grabbed a torch stuck in the sand nearby. He was already elbows deep in the slug’s backside, so I crouched down next to him to provide light. I watched him work for some time, playing dental assistant and handing him his tools, which I’d like to say he appreciated.

“So…” I began hesitantly, like I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue or not. “What’s the story between you and the Captain? Sounds to me like you have some kinda grudge…”

I saw his white teeth flash in a smile, “I don’t know if ‘grudge’ is the best way to describe it. We’re both just two accomplished guys who met up and fought together. We’re friends, don’t worry. If you talk to him I’m sure he’ll say the same thing.”

I watched him pause for a minute in thought, “At least I think he would. He’d probably complain about me first.”

I tried not to laugh, “What on earth could he complain about?” I asked in the most dramatically sarcastic way I could. I didn’t see any harm in messing with him.

He caught on and looked at me with a chuckle, “I know, right? I’m like the perfect role model…”

“Whatever you say,” I laughed back.

He pulled his arms out of the machinery and raised his sunglasses atop his head, “Hey, give me some credit. I managed to get you outta your shell.”

I lowered my head to suppress an embarrassed smile as he nudged my shoulder, “It’s not like I had much of a choice.”

“Aw, come on. You know this is the most fun you’ve ever had on a mission. It’s okay if you think I’m the best Lieutenant ever.”

“Oh brother…” I knew it was an act, but that didn’t stop me from rolling my eyes.

Lieutenant Tarma put his sunglasses back on as if they were safety goggles and went back to work. I’m sure the Captain would be upset if he saw us fooling around like this…

But the lieutenant was right again; this was the most fun I had ever had on a mission. This wasn’t even in the same universe as my other missions…

I heard him clear his throat and generously continue his answer to my question, “But anyway, I originally met Marco when I was assigned to the PF Squad with him. Then he was assigned to the counteroffensive in the Morden war.”

I listened closely as he started to laugh. “And then I volunteered to go with him.”

What.

“You… You _volunteered_ to lead a counteroffensive in the Great War? Just because of him?”

“Yeah. We were already great friends at that point and I’d be damned if I was gonna let him die out there.”

My head started to hurt again; the sign that I was a complete stranger to this man’s moral values. I never looked back or did anything for anyone, and here I was next to someone who volunteered to lead a front force against General Morden just for his friend…

“It was stupid and pig headed at the time, but I don’t regret it. I’m here, he’s here, and the war was won.”

Tarma wasn’t finished, so I did what I was best at and kept quiet.

“Everything went well, but I decided to be done after that. I told Marco that I was going to leave and he supported me. I was never a full-fledged soldier like him.”

I caught a glimpse of his eyes behind his shades and I couldn’t look away. They seemed tired and lonely, unlike his personality. “Well… What happened?”

He shrugged, “Nothing really. I notified my supervisors and they pretty much just denied my discharge. Not trying to brag, but Marco and I _were_ the heroes of the war. The upper echelons certainly weren’t going to let either of us leave.”

If he was trying to make me feel bad, he was doing a great job of it. I wanted to apologize, but I had a feeling he’d just shrug it off. Instead I opted for a more hopeful approach.

“So… Lieutenant, what are you going to do when you do get out?”

I thought it was a fair question. It was a question I myself couldn’t answer, because I had nothing in my life outside of work. I’m sure he had a family or friends to return to in Japan…

He grunted a few times trying to tighten a bolt and then looked at me with a smile, “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to open my own custom bike shop. I’m still going to. I don’t know where or when, but I will someday.”

I was a little more than surprised.

“I’m pretty good, actually. Maybe I can show you some of my work once this is all over.”

“I… I’d like that a lot…”

He continued working with a smile, and thank god for that because I was blushing like an idiot again. He was so nonchalant about everything. I’m sure it didn’t seem like a big deal for him, but…

No one’s ever offered me anything like _that_ before. No one’s ever wanted to keep a connection with _me_ …

I collected myself, something I found myself doing more and more lately. I was also inwardly grateful he didn’t ask me the same question…

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do after I was released.

But maybe… Just _maybe_ … I’d be able to visit a well-owned bike shop someday…

* * *

 Tarma had his hands deep in the slug’s external hardware with a satisfied look on his face. Eri was holding a torch up to give him light while thinking to herself as she commonly did. After letting things get in the way of them, they decided to crack down and do what they were supposed to do. Or at least do what Tarma was supposed to do. Eri recognized her near uselessness in their situation, but tried her hardest to help.

Time went by as it had for them previously. Tarma was making ground and his companion watched peacefully. Eri soon noticed her torch was on its last leg, as the light surrounding Tarma had gotten noticeably dimmer. She excused herself to go grab another torch out of the sand along the perimeter.

However, as she plucked another fiery stick from the sandy floor she heard a loud noise behind her while a bright light shone directly on her person. She turned around and shielded her eyes with her hand, only to see Tarma smiling from atop the slug’s hatch. The SPARROWS soldier smiled and jogged up to the rumbling tank.

“It’s… You… You did it, Lieutenant… It’s fixed!” Eri laughed and let out a relieved sigh.

Tarma stepped out of the hatch and onto the tank’s tread, extending his arm out to her, “It’s about damn time! Now come on, we have a mission to finish.”

Eri eagerly accepted his outstretched hand and jumped up onto the now operational SV-001. Tarma slipped through the hatch and into the driver’s seat, with Eri following behind him, opting to stand through the hatch.

“Do we have everything?” She yelled down to the mechanic.

“Yeah, I packed everything up. It’s all in here. Now just keep your eyes peeled for anything.”

“Roger.”

The headlight beamed through the sandy haze and the treads dug through the bottomless sandy turf as they traveled deeper into the tunnels of the catacombs in search of their missing comrades. They met no resistance along the path forward, save for a handful of mummies which were quickly and skillfully taken care of. Finally being aboard the moving super vehicle was a breath of fresh air for the two soldiers, but the whereabouts of their companions were beginning to worry them. After driving for what seemed like hours with little to no vision and hearing, something came up.

“Uh… Lieutenant, I think we have a problem,” Eri announced from atop the slug.

Tarma lifted his sunglasses up and squinted at the driver’s monitor, “I can’t see much. What is it? Are those stairs?”

Eri nudged his shoulder with her foot before climbing out of the access door. The Lieutenant climbed out rather nonchalantly with a lit cigarette in his mouth. Before even looking ahead he turned to Eri and offered her the pack.

“You want one?” he said, blowing smoke in her face. She frowned at him and swatted away his exhaust, before plucking one from the pack and putting it in her vest pocket. Tarma looked confused.

“I have a lighter. You can have it now if you-“

“Look.”

He was interrupted as an impatient Eri grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around so he could see what was in front of him. Tarma looked forward at the giant, stone, alter-like structure. There were steps leading up to the base where a small opening could be seen with light shining through. A wall surrounded the doorway and extended out of sight in all directions. His cigarette, the slug’s headlight, and the light from the doorway were the only things that stood out from the cave’s utter darkness.

“Are you kidding me?” Tarma groaned and looked at Eri for some sort of answer, “Are you _kidding_ me?”

Normally Eri would have acted the same way, but watching her superior’s mood change so quickly amused her. She grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

“All that for absolutely nothing. I can’t even see where this damn wall ends! I doubt we could drive around it.”

“I think our only option is to go inside…”

Tarma clenched his fists in frustration. Feeling Eri’s hand rest on his shoulder, he closed his eyes and took a long drag from his cigarette.

“Come on, Lieutenant. They might be in there. We have to go.”

“I know but… All that work… And all that time…just wasted…”

Eri sighed, “Would it make you feel better if I said I appreciate everything you’ve done so far?”

Tarma raised his eyebrow, “It might.”

“Well I do. It wasn’t for nothing. We would have had to walk all that way on foot, and we would have been much more tired than we are now.”

He tossed his old cigarette butt into the sand and immediately lit a new one. “Yeah, I guess you’re right…” he said with an exhale of smoke. “You see this is why Marco can be such a pain sometimes. That idiot could have saved us a lot of trouble if he had only answered his radio.”

Eri shrugged, not bothering to disagree with him, “I have to agree with you there…”

“See?”

“Hey,” Eri playfully punched his shoulder, “You’re no angel either.”

He laughed in response, “What did I do this time?”

“Nothing,” the first class sergeant smiled. “Let’s go. The slug isn’t going anywhere. Captain Rossi and Sergeant Germi need us.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Tarma went back in and shut down the super vehicle. The two grabbed their supplies and hopped off, intent on exploring the strange underground structure for their teammates. They walked up the steps and passed through the doorway in the giant stone wall, but what they met was certainly unexpected. Tarma silently walked through with Eri following closely behind as they both looked above in amazement. There were countless pillars and towers of gargantuan height that stood above what seemed to be a cave of ruins. Both upright and ruined structures lay as far as their eyes could see. They were clearly underground, but just how far under was another question, as neither could see beyond the stone towers leading up above them. They noticed however, despite being underground, it wasn’t as dark as it was in the sand.

“Where… What is this place?” Eri questioned aloud.

“I guess these are the ancient catacombs we were sent through. I was wondering when we’d see something other than just sand,” Tarma said, frowning as he looked up and saw nothing but darkness. “But I have to say, I didn’t exactly expect _this_ …”

Eri was having a hard time keeping her eyes from wandering as well, “So do you think they came through here?”

“It’s likely, given the fact that there wasn’t much else out there. This place seems pretty big though. I’m sure finding them will be like finding a needle in a haystack…”

“You don’t think they’re—“

 “No. Marco’s out there somewhere, and I’m sure Fio is with him,” Tarma turned and smiled at Eri. “But we should probably get a move on if we hope to find them. Knowing Marco he’s probably already found an exit and is waiting for us.”

Eri nodded, “Yeah…”

The PF Lieutenant and SPARROWS Sergeant walked further along the path into the city of ruins while taking note of their surroundings. The entire cave was silent, save for a few faded echoes that reverberated every now and then. After passing several along their way, Tarma became curious about the torches that lit their path. However, he knew there was a reason they were sent down here.

And it wasn’t just for a bunch of mummies.

“Hey, Lieutenant, look…” Eri grabbed his attention and pointed to a pile of sandy, musty bandages on the ground. Tarma sighed.

“Looks like we have some more friends in here. Keep your head up Eri. I ain’t feeling too good about this. We were sent here on a mission after all.”

Eri gulped, but tried her best to hide her anxiety, “I hear you, Lieutenant…”

They loaded their handguns with the few remaining rounds they had left. Tarma hoped Marco needed the ammunition he took, since he took a majority of it. The PF Lieutenant would be damned if something happened to him and Eri because they didn’t have enough ammo.

They kept walking as bats shrieked and flew past them overhead. The torches, which seemed to number in the hundreds, kept the ruins dimly lit. Eri was silent, but prepared. She followed her superior officer with her eyes and ears open. Then, as an extra pair of faint footsteps echoed through their surroundings, she swore she saw a figure walking away from them in the distance.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

_Eri’s POV_

It was weird in here, but walking on hard stone certainly beat constantly sinking into sand. Under different circumstances I would have been in complete awe of our surroundings, but Lieutenant Roving and I were on edge. This place was ginormous, and it didn’t seem to end. Captain Rossi and Sergeant Germi could be anywhere in here…

I felt like I could walk a hundred miles and not get anywhere, let alone _climb_. It was one thing to walk forever, but it was another thing to climb. This place didn’t seem to have a ceiling. Ruined structures piled on top of each other extending into the air, and countless giant pillars and towers stuck out of the sand like the tower of Pisa.

 _‘Come on, Eri. At least we’re doing something,’_ my old self reminded me. I was right. Since when had I gotten so timid? I was always the adventurous type…

Oh wait, that’s why I was anxious. I was actually worried about something this time. I was actually worried about _people_ for once. I had hardly known the Captain and Sergeant Fio at all, yet I felt like if anything happened to them I might just shatter…

I know the Lieutenant would, and at this point if he broke then I broke too. At least he was with me so I could keep an eye on him, not that he needed to be kept an eye on…but it eased my heavy conscious. I couldn’t believe it myself, but I had to admit it. It was the first time in my life that I cared about someone else more than me.

My ears snapped me out of my inner dialogue upon receiving what sounded like faint footsteps in the distance. I watched my feet and the Lieutenant’s and found that the sounds didn’t match up. Squinting, I looked forward over my companion’s shoulder, only to see a large figure walking ahead of us.

“Lieutenant…”

“Yeah,” he immediately whispered back to me, “I know. Just keep walking and try to stay quiet.”

I nodded my head as if he could see and stared back at the figure we were following. Whatever it was, it was a slow walker. We were gaining on it just by walking at a normal pace, and the closer we got and the more we saw, the more confused I got. It was too dark to see anymore than a silhouette, but from what we could see, it certainly didn’t look human. Its body was big, almost round, but its legs were smaller than they should have been.

I silently hoped I was just imagining this. I liked shooting a lot of things, but deformed monsters weren’t one of them.

Out of nowhere, Tarma grabbed a torch from the wall we passed by and fastened his pace. I quickly followed him, keeping as much weight off my feet as possible in an effort to not make any noise. Tarma was blocking my vision, but I just followed closely.

This was it. I raised my magnum and got ready to be face to face with whatever was in from of us. We reached it in mere seconds, and then…

Tarma came to an immediate stop and I stupidly ran straight into his back.

He didn’t seem to care, or budge, as I watched him take off his sunglasses.

“...Rumi?”

Rumi? What the heck was that? I looked at his dumbfounded face before peeking around his shoulder. My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped to the floor.

“L-L-Lieutenant Roving…?!”

Just as dumbfounded as Tarma, I watched the girl in front of us fall onto her bottom in surprise. She was dressed in a classic Regular Army trainee uniform, with an obnoxiously large backpack weighing her down. I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

What on earth was someone like her doing here?

“Rumi…Rumi Aikawa… It is you, isn’t it?” The Lieutenant confirmed in disbelief. He was clearly having a hard time wrapping his head around this.

The girl quickly picked herself up, trying to gain her balance while carrying her larger-than-her backpack. A smile formed on her cheerful face and she saluted the man next to me.

“Lieutenant Roving! Rumi Aikawa reporting for duty!”

Tarma shook his head and blinked his eyes, “Rumi… You have no duty here! I don’t… What in god’s name are you doing in a place like this?!”

I wasn’t sure if he was angry or just shocked. I know I was the latter. To think we found a girl like her here after struggling to get here ourselves…

“I’m here to support the troops!” She smiled as if nothing was wrong. “But, um… I think I may have gotten off course a little,” the girl let out a nervous laugh and Tarma sighed.

“Yeah? You think so?”

She frowned and avoided his gaze before looking up at me and smiling, “Oh! You must be Sergeant Eri from SPARROWS! Rumi Aikawa, at your service!”

I watched uncomfortably as she saluted me. I certainly wasn’t used to that, but I couldn’t stop an amused smile from forming on my lips, despite not understanding what was going on.

“Rumi, you gotta help me out here,” Tarma pleaded with open arms. “How did you get yourself down here? You do realize us _professionals_ were given a mission to come here, right?”

“Yeah, well I…I’m not sure…”

“Well, at least you’re safe,” I decided to chime in. She clearly wasn’t sure of herself, and I felt bad just thinking about how scared she must have been. Tarma let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I guess that’s all that matters. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you shouldn’t be here, Rumi…”

I watched the girl nod shyly, “Yes, you’re right Lieutenant. I’m going to begin making my way towards an exit.”

“We’ve got the slug right outside. Want us to give you a lift out?” Tarma offered. I think he was just trying to be nice, seeing as how we certainly didn’t have enough fuel to ride all the way to the entrance and back.

“No, its okay,” she smiled. Well that solves that problem. “You guys have to complete your mission. I’m sure Captain Marco and Sergeant Fio are worried about you! I’ll be fine! I spoke to the miners before coming down here and they gave me some directional advice.”

I could practically sense Tarma relaxing his shoulders, “All right, good. I trust you Rumi. Just promise—wait what?”

She tilted her head, “Hmm? What is it Lieutenant?”

“Did… Did you see them?!”

Did she? She must have to know Fio was with the Captain…

“Oh yes, I did! We had a nice little conversation, but the Captain seemed to be in a hurry. He said he was looking for something, and that I should tell you two to catch up.”

I almost laughed at the Lieutenant’s frustration.

“Of course he did. He’s lucky we’re still alive. I guess we’ll just have to find them. Promise me you’ll be careful Rumi.”

She stood tall with a smile and a salute, “Of course, Lieutenant Roving! I promise, and I’ll see you back at HQ!” Rumi caught her breath and turned to me, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Sergeant Kasamoto! I hope we’ll be working together again in the future!”

I chuckled at her infectiously cheerful demeanor, “I’ll be looking forward to it. Be safe.”

“You can count on me, ma’am! Rumi Aikawa heading out!”

We both watched as she turned and walked back where we came from, waving her hand until she was out of sight. That was interesting, to say the least.

Wait a minute.

“Did… Did we just let her leave on her own?”

…

“Yeah. Yeah, we did…”

“Are you sure—“

“Don’t worry,” Tarma interrupted me with a smile on his face. “Despite what most think, Rumi can take care of herself. She practically trudged through the entire Morden War on her own, after all.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, “Whaddya mean?”

“She just joined as a private when the war started. Apparently there was some mess with her paperwork and she was sent to the front lines,” he spoke with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Are you—Are you serious?”

“Yep. Luckily we noticed and kept her back, but she was already out so it was hard to pull her back all the way. That and she insisted on helping, so we let her act as a one person supply unit.”

I heard Tarma chuckle and couldn’t believe what I heard. I didn’t want to think how she was treated by the soldiers.

“You didn’t!” I challenged a bit too vigorously. He gave me an innocent face and put his hands up in defense, like it wasn’t his fault.

“She wanted too! Besides, we watched her. Or at least Marco and I did,” he paused. “Or at least Marco and I did when she wasn’t getting herself lost…”

“Don’t blame her. Please tell me you at least had the decency to treat her well.”

“Yeah, of course we did! Give us some credit, sheesh. What’s with you acting all motherly all of a sudden?” he joked.

It almost struck a chord in me, but I reminded myself we were just having a trivial, light-hearted conversation.

“I’m not being _motherly_. I just don’t want anyone giving her more trouble than she already has,” I frowned and looked at him next to me. “I like her.”

He laughed, “After only five minutes with her. I know, so does everyone else. We’ll catch up with her later.”

“Mmm…” I mumbled back. Our conversation ended as we turned out focus to our surroundings again. We were still walking along our original path. The torches on the walls lit our way, but it was certainly getting darker. More and more of the collapsed pillars came into view as we passed several. I mentioned the idea of climbing to Tarma, as many of the structures provided paths upwards, but he just shook his head and kept walking. I certainly wasn’t complaining.

He paced in front of me over the course of T minus whatever. I certainly wasn’t going to try and think of how much time had passed. Then, out of nowhere, we reached the end of the torches, but Tarma raised his dim one and proceeded forward, albeit a tad slower. I quietly followed.

I could barely see the ground below me, and if not for the Lieutenant’s torch, we would have been in complete darkness. I looked behind me and saw the corridor of torches, along with the gigantic structures rising into the direction of the sky. I turned my head back around to Tarma’s back, and thank God I did.

“Gaaah!”

I heard a crumble in front of me and Tarma’s yell as he started to drop. I silently thanked every deity I could think of for the life I had and the reflexes I gained because of it. In the blink of an eye, and without thinking, I bear hugged him from behind and pulled back as hard as I could, like a suplex minus the painful intentions.

“Holy—!” I heard him yell as we both hit the hard ground behind us. The torch was now on the ground, and I could see from its light the end of the path. Or more precisely, the final bricks of the path and complete blackness beyond the cliff. We stayed frozen on the ground, our heads the only thing off the rock tile, with him rather awkwardly placed between my legs. He leaned his head back into my crotch, as if expecting the ground, much to my mortification.

“Shit…” he let out, completely exasperated. I let out a sigh myself and stayed where I was, hoping he would be late to notice.

“A-Are you all right?” I asked with a cracked voice. He didn’t seem to care.

“Yeah… Thanks.”

Guessing he wasn’t going to get up, I laid my head back against the ground and closed my eyes in an effort to calm my nerves. I sighed and took deep breaths, but our present situation came back to me, as well as the uncomfortable weight between my legs.

I hesitantly prepared my voice, “Can we…get up?”

I waited, half expecting him to be asleep again. “Yeah… Sorry,” he lifted his head up and I blushed, assuming he figured out where he was resting.

“I-It’s fine…”

He spoke more firmly this time, “I need you to move first. Slowly though.”

I craned my neck forward and realized his feet were hanging off the edge. I immediately tensed and prepared my body to move.

“Ok…”

I used my arms and slide back far enough away from the cliff before rising to my feet. He did the same, and I watched him like a hawk, my body ready to move at any given moment. He crawled backwards and finally stood up in front of me. He turned and gave me a smile; not his usual cocky one, but a satisfied expression nonetheless.

“I almost died,” he said so nonchalantly I wanted to push him off myself. I grit my teeth and warned my brain not to think of what could’ve happened.

“But you didn’t. I saved you.” My attitude was too stubborn for its own good, but as always, the Lieutenant wasn’t fazed.

“Yes you did. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again,” he took his sunglasses off and rubbed his eyes. I wasn’t sure whether to seize the opportunity and look at them, or look away as if he were naked.

“I’m glad you’re here, Eri.”

I was about to nod my head. Nod my head and keep quiet like I always did, but something forced me to express myself. To give back to what was giving.

“I’m glad I’m here too…”

He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder before brushing past me. “Give me a minute,” he whispered, and I raised my eyebrows in question. I watched the Lieutenant walk several feet away from me, back in the direction we came, and I stayed put. Then he proceeded to take his radio out of his vest pocket and slam it into the ground. It shattered into a million pieces with a loud crashing noise, followed by a resounding ‘goddammit’. I watched him run a hand through his messy hair before putting his shades back on. I kept quiet, like a small child watching an angry parent. But then the thoughts finally made their way into my head and I shuttered.

He _did_ almost die. Just like that. I wasn’t sure how far the drop was, but it definitely wasn’t short. I felt nervous just standing a few yards away from the _end._

“Um, Lieutenant?” I cautiously asked to get his attention. The distress on his face seemed to immediately wash away and I was grateful. “How about we head back into the light? Maybe we can find another way.”

He nodded and beckoned me with his hand before started off from where we came from. I followed, careful to avoid stepping on the remains of his radio. We walked back along the dark wall until we reached the first set of torches propped up. We also happened to stop near the fallen remains of some building, now just a heap of stone. It led up to a small pillar, and I could practically visualize a trail leading upwards. Lieutenant Roving seemed to realize as well.

“I hate to suggest this after what just happened,” he began, “but I think we should see where climbing gets us. We’re honestly out of options at this point. Marco and Fio must have gone _somewhere_.”

I nodded, but couldn’t help from looking up and swallowing hard.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I spoke with a sigh and he turned to me as if expecting something. I didn’t have much to give, so I just spoke my mind.

“I know it wasn’t your fault, but…can we please be careful?”

“Yeah sure,” he smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.  “Eri, are you worried about me?”

I immediately regretted my words and wanted to slap the smug grin off his face, “Don’t flatter yourself! I just don’t want you slowing me down is all…”

He laughed and placed his foot atop the stone pile, intent on starting our climb upwards. I followed closely behind him while keeping an eye on our surroundings. One misplaced foot could lead to disaster, and I was sure we had had enough of that today. We climbed and swore and climbed some more. He saved me from an unstable platform and I saved him from…

“I can’t make that.”

“Sure you can. I’ll catch you otherwise,” I reassured him from across the gap. We met our first long jump, and even I struggled to cross it with my grace and light-footedness.

“I can’t jump that far. I don’t weigh twenty pounds like you, Eri…”

“ _I’ll catch_ you.”

“I don’t think—“

I sighed pulled at my shirt’s collar to relieve some heat. I understood his nervousness; I was nervous too, but it wasn’t like we had another choice. Like many times before, I was confident enough to rely on my own abilities.

“Don’t you trust me, Lieutenant?”

He looked down the pit between us and back at me, “Of course I trust you. I just don’t trust my legs… Or my weight.”

“Well I didn’t come all this way with you just so you could fall down a pit, Mr. Roving. I saved you once and I’ll save you again.”

He smiled meekly at me and took a deep breath, “Is it ok if I close my eyes?”

“Please don’t. Although I don’t think there would be much of a difference,” I joked, trying to get his mind in a better place.

“Ok, here I go…”

I planted my feet on the edge of my platform and bent my knees, ready to snatch out for any of his soon-to-be flailing appendages.

He backed up for a running start and took off like a bird. Or more precisely, an ostrich.

I cursed aloud and fell to my stomach to catch him. I severely overestimated his jumping prowess, and reached out as far as I could without falling myself. Owing to luck more than skill, I snatched his right hand and took a deep breath.

“Shit! I knew it!” He hung from my hand over the blackness below.

My face turned red as I crouched on my and tried to pull him up. Unintentional gasps escaped my mouth, and I felt that I bit off more than I could chew. Thankfully, he wasn’t entirely useless.

“Hang on Eri!” His free hand immediately shot for the edge of the platform I was crouched on in an effort to pull himself up. With his help, I finished the job and dragged his arm backwards, lifting his chest over the edge so only his bottom half hung off. I caught my breath and continued to pull, but his sudden frantic expression had me worried again. I watched him drop his other hand to his waste and return it with his pistol, before aiming and firing two shots between my legs.

Was…something behind me?

The moan I heard mere inches behind me made my skin crawl and I froze, trying to focus on pulling Tarma up. The unfortunate click of his gun made my fears come true.

“Eri, I’m out! Behind you!”

“Hold on!” I ordered him.

His gun returned to his vest and his hand to the edge as I repositioned my grip on his other limb. Without thinking, I released my right hand from his and grabbed my knife from its holster on my shorts. I inhaled the monster’s sandy dust before ruthlessly turning and driving the knife into its bandaged face. It moaned again, but stopped moving. It soon after dropped to the ground in a pile of sand and bindings.

Tarma had done me the favor of pulling himself up. He stood up, but I dropped to my hands and knees, securing some much needed air. I was beginning to hate this place and this mission, much to my hypocrisy. He crouched down beside me and put a hand on my back.

“You were right, even though it was close. Thanks again.”

The nauseas feeling quickly left and my head cleared, but that didn’t stop the look of concern from forming on his face.

“You all right?”

I rubbed my nose and nodded, “Yeah, thanks. And thanks for watching my back.” He offered his hand and I accepted as he pulled me up to my feet.

“It was the least I could do, and pretty much the _only thing_ I could do. Got any ammo?”

“Yeah, but not for you,” I told him, showing him the empty clip to my Glock service pistol. “I have three shots left in my Magnum.”

“Oh boy,” he said while retrieving my knife from the pile of bandages. I had forgotten about it. Shows how crazy my nerves were. He handed it to me and I mumbled a ‘thanks’.

And that was it. We were back to climbing. Luckily we didn’t come across any huge gaps for Tarma to jump over, but we found more mummies. I stabbed them with my knife, and they got the message and crumbled to the ground. Tarma decided to try and punch one, and to my surprise he knocked its head clean off its shoulders. I couldn’t help but laugh.

And then I wasted two bullets freaking out at the first sight of a mummy dog. Tarma just chuckled and kicked it of the cliff. I was never a dog person, let alone a mummy person.

“Whoa… Lieutenant, look,” I told him, pointing into the air some ways in front of us. Higher above us stood another humongous pillar, this one bigger than the rest, with wooden planks sticking out from all sides. Of course it was difficult to see, but countless torches ran up its length, providing a never ending trail of light into the air.

“Damn,” he agreed. “That must go somewhere… Certainly shows that were deep underground.”

Then, as if reacting to our discovery, everything started to shake. We braced ourselves on the large stone building we stood atop, hoping to all that was mighty nothing would collapse. I only expected it to last a few seconds, but when it kept dragging on the Lieutenant and I knew something was up.

Except we had no idea what to do.

The trembling got louder and more violent and I dropped on my hands and knees to brace myself. A loud explosion sounded off above us in the direction of the main pillar.

“What the hell!?”

Tarma’s exclamation pulled my attention to the pillar. My reaction was the same as his, only silent. I watched in both amazement and horror as the pillar was practically _eaten_ by some machine. Its excavator-like claws sprouted around the column as it climbed further up. Rocks began falling, and I was thankful we weren’t directly under it, even though the vibrations still continued strong.

I heard a shuffling noise next to me. Tarma reached into his vest and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, he read its contents before looking back up at the monstrosity above.

“Aeshi Nero…?”

I saw his lips move but barely heard a thing, “What?! I can’t hear you!” I practically screamed over the mechanical and stone-smashing noises. I rose to my feet and tried covering my ears with my hands, but it didn’t do much. He shook his head in disbelief before raising his voice.

“This is it! This is the thing we were sent down here for!” he yelled while waving the scrap of paper in front of me. I imagined it was information given to him pertaining to the mission.

“What is that?!”

“Just some intel from your SPARROWS friends! Apparently, they discovered some crazy excavator machine developed by the Rebel Army! Said it was the cause of several underground rebel bases! Did you know anything about this?!”

I frowned and shook my head, “Me?! No, they don’t tell me anything!”

Tarma smiled and folded the paper back into his vest before grabbing a pair of binoculars from another pocket. He looked through them and I saw his jaw slowly drop.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding…”

“HUH!?” I yelled uncharacteristically atop the rising surrounding volume, reminding him that I couldn’t hear.

“HE’S UP THERE! THEY’RE BOTH UP THERE!” Tarma screamed in shock, but it was still hard to hear him. “AND HE’S SMILING! THAT ASSHOLE’S SMILING!”

“WHAT!!?”

I grabbed the binoculars from him and looked up at the steel beast. I rotated the lens to magnify my vision and focus, and I’m sure my jaw dropped just as low as the Lieutenant’s. Climbing just above the excavator was none other than Captain Marco and Sergeant Fio. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were climbing and shooting at the same time, or at least Marco was. Fio seemed to be focused on climbing and not freaking out, from what I could see.

Then I watched in utter horror as a giant laser blasted from the machine’s mouth-like entrance, traveling up the pillar and smashing through the ceiling. Turned out the ceiling was the earth’s surface, and sand and turf alike fell from the opening above. Sunlight shone through the large hole, which seemed to be a mile above us. I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

“C’MON!!”

Tarma yelled and grabbed my arm. I didn’t ask questions. I just followed him as we ran and climbed up the buildings as fast as we could. Were we going to retaliate and help them? I was relieved to find that they had somehow survived the laser blast, but still… What could we do? They had taken most of the ammunition and we were completely out. I didn’t know what we were doing, and I questioned if the Lieutenant knew.

We rather foolishly made it near the base of the tower with our friends and the machine a couple hundred feet above us. We dodged falling rocks and struggled to keep our footing. I couldn’t hear myself think.

“WHAT NOW!?”

He looked at me and shrugged like it was the least of his worries, “I DON’T KNOW! I JUST FELT WE SHOULD’VE COME UP HERE!!”

I sighed and brought my palm to my face. We couldn’t chase after that thing and I doubt we could reach the surface. The only thing we were doing here was putting ourselves in more danger. Before I was able to berate him for his carelessness, a deafening explosion went off above us. The Rebel excavator was the source, as it combusted before splitting in two. Several oversized mechanical pieces fell from the column, which was more or less right above us. If I didn’t think I’d die before, I certainly did now.

“SHIT!”

The Lieutenant echoed my thoughts exactly. Then, without warning, he put an arm around me and jumped.

I never told anyone I was afraid of heights, and I never would. I carefully handled my fear on our way up, but if we someone how survived this mess, I was going to kill Tarma myself.


	6. Chapter 6

_Tarma’s POV_

This whole thing was a mess. Just a complete mess. We finally found what we were sent down here for, which I conveniently forgot about, but at what cost? It certainly wasn’t the most effective way of caring out our mission. I was actually unsure of whether we’d make it out alive.

I stupidly told my female companion to follow me up to the tower. I don’t know what I was thinking, or if I was thinking at all. It was hard with the all the noise and vibrations. But it didn’t occur to me until after our target machine exploded that I might have just gotten us killed.

Someway, somehow, it was Marco’s fault. If we survived this ridiculous ordeal, I’d never let him hear the end of it. I’m sure the girls would have some choice words as well, and hopefully they’d be brave enough to speak out against our idiot Captain.

Seeing absolutely no other way out of the mess I got us into, what with the falling robotic parts directly above us, I grabbed Eri by the waist and jumped off the edge of the pillar’s base. I had no idea what waited below us, but I was sure it wouldn’t be as bad as getting crushed to death. Thankfully, Eri didn’t have time to oppose my action. Hopefully she wasn’t afraid of heights after all this time.

I jumped as far as I could, which I’m sure Eri would have noted wasn’t far at all if she wasn’t busy silently planning my death. The oversized remains of the Aeshi Nero slammed against our old platform as we fell through the air, crushing most of the structures it collided with. I prayed that we landed on something soft soon. Heck, I’d take a broken leg or two if it meant I didn’t fall to my death or get crushed by the stone avalanche that was forming. I wish Marco was here so he could experience this shit.

Eri’s grip on my vest tightened as I saw her look down. An enormous pile of sand accumulated in a secluded area near the base of the underground base, just feet above the main hallway we entered through. Sand was pouring out from every crack as the ruins began to collapse, and I thanked everything for it. As if the planets aligned, we smashed into the growing pile of granular rocks and sank in. It was certainly uncomfortable, especially since sand continued to pour on top of us, but we survived with minimal injuries. I looked at Eri, who seemed to be in a daze, before watching the avalanche reach the ground mere yards away from us. As it turned out, I had angled my jump perfectly since the ruins collapsed in the other direction. The remains filled the base of the entry hallway we had met Rumi in. Soon enough, a satisfying and well awaited silence covered the cave, as a monstrous cloud of dust roamed into the air. To my heart’s content, the central pillar remained standing among the wreckage. I was sure the other two were still up there or out of the cave entirely. I wonder if they thought we were dead.

Much to my surprise and delight, the sun blasted through the gaping hole in the earth’s surface, blanketing our dreary environment in light. It was almost surreal, to be honest. Like the end of one of those cliché action movies after the heroes saved the world. However, we all knew it was only the beginning.

I felt my companion shift beside me in our bed of sand like she had fallen unconscious and was coming back. She looked at me; her big eyes full of confusion.

“Are… Are we alive?”

I smiled, but quickly stopped myself to consider her words. Were we alive? It could have all been a dream. The chances of us surviving everything that just happened were second to none after all. I leaned over towards her, pounds of sand shifting off my body, and pinched her arm. She yelped and smacked my arm away as I laughed.

“I guess so.”

“Jerk. Couldn’t you have pinched yourself,” she pouted.

“Wouldn’t have been as satisfying.”

We laid in the sand, our muscles and stamina finally catching up to us. I knew we had things to do and people to find, but it was nice to just sit for a moment. Who was I to turn down relaxation?

“I don’t get it,” she began with a smile on her face. “How on earth did we survive?”

“Thank you, thank you,” I bowed my head dramatically. She seemed to remember what I was referring to as a grimace quickly replaced her positive expression.

“Oh, yeah.”

I didn’t have time to react before her palm swiped itself across my face. I instinctively raised a hand to my throbbing cheek, but couldn’t stop myself from grinning. She just slapped me.

“You ever pull something like that again, and I swear, falling to your death will be the least of your worries.”

I tried to retaliate with an angry expression, but I couldn’t bring myself to, so I just let out a genuine laugh.

“You can’t do that! Who do you think you are, private?”

Another smack to shoulder, this one more playful. “I’m a sergeant, not a private.”

“And I’m a Lieutenant! _Your_ Lieutenant!”

She laid back with a smirk on her face, obviously pleased with herself, “So?”

“I’ll let it slide this time,” I mumbled jokingly before reaching for my cigarette pack. I plucked the last one out and put it between my lips while grabbing my lighter from another pocket. Then I sat there for about five minutes trying to produce a flame. After the millionth flick, I puffed smoke out of the stimulant in satisfaction. I caught Eri out of the corner of my eye as she pulled her saved cigarette out of her vest pocket and looked at me expectantly.

“I think it’s out, sorry. You can try though,” I mumbled, offering her the empty lighter. She looked at me with a deadpan expression before crossing her arms over her chest.

“Hey, I warned you. Should’ve had it before.”

I took a long drag and felt her eyes watch me jealously. She chewed on the end of her unlit cigarette prior to uncrossing her arms and moving in. I remained completely still, as well as puzzled, as she leaned her face towards mine. Her fingers guided the end of her cig into mine and she puffed until the flame spread between them. Before moving away, she sucked in, let the tobacco liter her lungs, and blew it back into my face with a smirk. When she settled back in her sandy spot I pushed my shades atop my head and looked at her. Did she seriously just do that? What happened to little Miss Conflicted?

“You…” I began, but interrupted myself with a chuckle. “You better watch yourself. You’re on thin ice, Kasamoto.”

She looked back and raised an arrogant eyebrow, “Yeah? How so?”

“One more crack like that and I’ll have you court-martialed.”

Eri threw her head back with a laugh, “You offered, Lieutenant.”

Yeah, I guess I did.

“Touché.”

…

“—armaaa…”

I frowned and turned to Eri, “Did you say something?”

She seemed busy with her newly lit cigarette, “No... Why?”

“—eeey!”

I slowly leaned up from the sand. Eri did the same, propping herself up on her elbows with a similar, confused look on her face.

“Did you hear that?” she asked, and I nodded in return.

“Yeah, almost sounded like—“

“HEEEEY!!!”

We looked at each other atop the mound of sand before bolting upright and sliding down to solid ground. I looked up, putting my sunglasses on and shielding my eyes from the sun in search of the voice. After squinting for some time, I found it. Or him, to be exact.

Our great Captain, Marco, stood on a ledge of the pillar some ways above us. I let out a relieved sigh, but my brain didn’t forget about the beating I wanted to give him.

“Hey! Down here!” I yelled up to him, waving my hands in the process. Eri must have gotten the message as a smile tugged its way onto her face and she began waving also. It only took him a few seconds to spot us, giving us a wave in return, before ending the reunion in the most Marco-esque way possible.

“What are you doing down there?! Get up here, both of you!”

My shoulders tensed in frustration. Eri must’ve noticed, as her cool hand found its way to my arm.

“Why don’t we save our silly grudges for when we’re out of here? I’m sick of all this sand in my boots.”

“Fine,” I spoke with a smile. “I’ll race you to the top?”

She looked at me like I was an idiot. I almost laughed. Her reactions to my stupid antics never disappointed.

“So you can fall down and almost kill yourself again? No thank you.”

“Me? Fall? Ha, I think you’re just scared to lose.”

She shrugged nonchalantly, “I mean, I could just push you down myself if that’s what you want.”

“I’M ABOUT TO LEAVE YOU TWO!”

I turned my attention to my bull-headed partner above, “WOULD YOU JUST HOLD YOUR HORSES!?

“I’M YOUR CAPTAIN! GET UP HERE NOW! THAT’S AN ORDER!”

Eri silently beckoned me to start climbing up the broken ruins with her and I did.  “DON’T START WITH ME, _CAPTAIN!_ ”

Marco stayed where he was near the middle of the giant column as Eri and I climbed and climbed. We were finally met with his less-than-appealing, smug face. We stayed silent, trying to catch our breaths as he looked both of us up and down. We probably looked like crap, but what did he expect?

“You two look like you had fun. What the hell took you so long?”

I turned to him, both happy and frustrated to see him, “Why do you look so satisfied with yourself?”

Of course, he missed my point and gave me an inquisitive look, “Why wouldn’t I be satisfied? I just completed our mission!”

“You almost got us killed, that’s what you did! There were much better ways to go about doing this you know! What happened to ‘needing the tank’ and ‘not risking anything’?!”

Marco shrugged, clearly not giving it much thought, “You know I’m all about efficiency, Tarma. How was I supposed to know you were down there?”

I swear if this man wasn’t as good at his job as he was, I don’t know what I’d think of him.

* * *

The three soldiers met up and began climbing the central pillar towards the sunlight.  Marco led, climbing considerably faster than the two behind.

“Fio’s at the top trying to contact a chopper. I feel like this place is gonna collapse any moment now.”

“You and me both.”

“Well then you two better climb faster.”

Marco continued onward while Tarma turned to look at Eri with a ‘can you believe this guy?’ frown. The soldiers soon felt their eyes burning from the sunlight above, something they had not had for the past countless hours.

“At least…the sun feels nice. It’s been so long…” Eri commented through strained breaths. She looked at Tarma who was panting like a dog while climbing.

“Are you…serious? I…liked it better…huh…in the shade…”

Eri wasn’t sure whether to laugh at his goofiness or frown at his pig-headedness. She found herself debating between the two quite often with him.

“Quit yer moaning…and climb…” she ordered with a smirk. Marco was quick to catch on.

“That’s more like it Sergeant!”

“Why are you…on his side!?”

Eri laughed, trying not to cough, “Cuz making fun of you is…fun…”

“That’s more like it-“

“Will you shut up!?”

“Hey!”

Marco’s voice was much closer above this time. Tarma turned his gaze from the pillar he was climbing to the figure now luring over him. His captain stood above him on two feet with a hand stretched out and a smile on his face.

“Fun’s over, Tarma.”

The Lieutenant looked at Marco and then to Eri, surprised they had already reached the top. Eri seemed just as surprised.

“Hey, you know what they say. Time flies when you’re having—“

“Please stop.”

“Ok,” she laughed at his intentional deadpan expression.

“On your feet!”

The two ‘sorry excuses for soldiers’ were helped up by their captain onto the top of the pillar. They stood and gathered their breath, while Marco waited, seemingly unaffected by the physical exercise. They stood on the edge of the pillar, which by Marco’s guess was no more than twenty feet in diameter. The desert floor around the pillar had collapsed below, leaving them on what looked like an island. They could only go up or down at this point.

“Lieutenant Roving! Sergeant Kasamoto!”

They both simultaneously looked at the figurative ray of sunshine that stood in front of them and immediately smiled.

“I’m so glad you’re safe!!” Their fourth compatriot, Fio, nearly squealed.

“Hey Fio, how ya been?” Tarma chuckled, walking over and shamelessly hugging the girl. Fio quickly recovered and looked downward shyly.

“Oh…you know… Just following orders!” Eri couldn’t help but smile.

Tarma scoffed and pointed a thumb towards Marco, “Well, when you have this taskmaster over here, that’s about as good as you’ll get.”

“You primadonnas will have plenty of time to catch up in a minute. Sergeant Germi, any contact?”

The bright girl immediately straitened her posture, “Yessir! Saudi rescue choppers will arrive within T-minus twenty-three minutes. Headquarters requested we return for a briefing on our next mission.”

The Captain scratched his overgrown chin stubble, “Very well. All we can do is wait now.”

“We’re going all the way back to HQ?” Tarma asked, clearly confused.

“That’s what they said. No idea what they want us to do next. Our work here was a success, so maybe they’ll let us off the hook for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Tarma lay down with his hands tucked behind his head, “that’d be nice.”

“Well, we got twenty minutes, so you might as well relax,” Marco said, more to Eri and Fio than Tarma.

Eri took a seat criss-cross aside Tarma, followed by Fio. Marco stood as usual.

“Looks like Mr. Lazy got a head start,” the blonde snickered to herself. She was starting to get scared by how fun it was to tease the Lieutenant.

“Hey Eri, didn’t you say you were afraid of heights?”

Eri nervously looked at Tarma, “Um…”

“Because if you tripped and fell off, I bet you’d fall for a good five minutes before hitting the ground.”

“Stop it, you jerk!”

Eri punched a laughing Tarma in the arm with enough force to shut up any further retorts, all the while Fio laughed and Marco shook his head.

Despite their lively reunion, the next twenty minutes of waiting turned out to be the most painfully slow time for each of them. Tarma fell asleep, or so the others thought. Marco stood like a statue, and the girls questioned if he was still breathing or not. An awkward silence also loomed over the two new recruits, or at least Eri thought so.

“So, Sergeant Kasamoto—“

“Please, Fio, call me Eri.”

The blonde cautiously smiled at the brunette, who returned her expression tenfold.

“Ok, Eri! So, how was your time with Lieutenant Roving? I hope we didn’t leave you two in a bad spot…”

Eri immediately clambed up. She could feel her old shell reforming, telling her to just mumble ‘all right’ and turn away. Was it Fio? No, she was a delightful girl and a strong companion. Was it Fio’s question, or was Eri, once again, afraid of the honest answer? The Lieutenant tore down her wall, and now she wasn’t going to let it build itself back up. After all, he was the reason she was sitting here now.

“No, it wasn’t too bad…” she began hesitantly, before leaning back on her elbows. “Honestly, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I think…it was the best mission I’ve ever been on.”

The Japanese-American looked back at her company, hoping Fio wouldn’t question her. When she received another familiar, bright smile, Eri breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I know _exactly_ what you mean.”

Then, in the distance, the two women swore they heard a faint roaring.

“On your feet.”

They were knocked out of their inner observations by Captain Marco’s orders. They looked up from their seats to see Marco standing in his usual spot with Tarma standing right beside him.

“Eyes front.”

As the whirling of the two helicopters became louder and louder, Eri and Fio swiftly jumped onto their feet and formed rank with their superiors, despite how disheveled they appeared. One of the helicopters landed on the pillar, taking up a majority of the area.

“Howdy!!” Tarma yelled with a wave towards the pilot as he climbed aboard. Eri and Fio quickly followed and sat in the open passenger chamber, while Marco sat in the cockpit and Tarma stood in the doorway. Eri sat snuggly next to Fio, trying to find what little comfort there was in such an unknown situation. Fio had mentioned they were returning to headquarters, but Eri was still hesitant. She watched, through the hole under Tarma’s arm, Marco in a somewhat heated discussion with the pilot and another man on board. Then the Captain looked up and spoke to Tarma, who turned around with a miserable look on his face. Throughout their entire ordeal so far, Eri had not seen him look so dour.

He caught her worried glance and sat down across from them with a sigh.

“There’s uh…been a change of plans.”

Eri could feel Fio tense up beside her, which didn’t help her already strained self.

“We’re to intercept and cutoff a Rebel supply train in Turkey. It heads through Asia, so the sooner we get to it, the better. And don’t ask me for any more information than what I just told you ‘cause I don’t got it.”

Eri swallowed hard and peered towards the steel floor of the helicopter. Fio sighed and took her glasses off to clean them, only to smudge them even further.

“Sorry girls,” Tarma apologized and took off his sunglasses. Eri found her eyes gravitating towards his uncovered ones.  “We can’t go home yet.”

He turned and leaned back into the cockpit, leaving the girls with nothing but the overbearing noise of the helicopter blades.

“It’s really not so bad…” Fio chuckled half-heartedly. “As long as we’re with the Captain and Lieutenant, I think everything will work out.”

For once, Eri found herself passionately agreeing with someone. “Yeah, you’re right, Fio.”

Suddenly the two men of interest exited the cockpit and took a seat across from them.

“Hey, chins up. We’re not done yet. Got a lot of work to do.”

Marco was the first to talk, an arrogant smirk painting his face.

“You two didn’t think we brought you out here just for a picnic in the sand, did you? Come on, get real.”

Tarma was the second, his trademark shades reflecting in the sun.

“You can count on me, sirs! Though a picnic would be nice right about now…”

Fio was the third, her dirty glasses and quirky smile as warming as ever.

“I don’t know what I expected, but somehow I’m not surprised.”

Eri was the fourth, her resolve bounded and tied like the bandana atop her head.

She knew if anyone was to see the mission through, it would be them.

 

MISSION COMPLETE

 


	7. Chapter 7

“So? How was it?”

Fio closed the door behind her and looked at her blonde friend lazily sitting at her desk before answering with a big smile.

“Oh, it was great!” she spoke, and Eri couldn’t help but smile back at the girl’s cheerfulness. “Apparently Marco and Tarma’s mission was a success! They’ll be back soon!”

Eri’s eyebrows shot straight up in surprise. That was a relief. Thank goodness everything went well. Morden was missing, but several rebel resistances and bases were still located across the globe, and the Regular Army had made it clear that they wanted them destroyed. Marco and Tarma had tried to resign again, much to Eri’s inner conflict, but were denied and ironically promoted to Major and Captain. The outburst from the four friends-in-arms was real after learning of their first mission. The two Peregrine Falcon soldiers were sent to an island in the Southern Pacific, which had been used as a nuclear testing site in the past, while Eri and Fio were left gathering intel and working with both the PF advisors and SPARROWS members. The past week without Marco and Tarma had been hell to Eri. If she wasn’t sitting through hundreds of mind numbing assemblies or filling out tedious paperwork, she was worrying about the Major and Captain. She was glad Fio had finally come with good news.

“That’s good. Did you get any other information? There’s always a catch, Fio.”

Even Eri’s ever-present pessimism wasn’t enough to affect Fio’s cheery mood. “They said everything went perfectly! I’m sure they’ll be excited to tell us all about it. I can’t wait to see those two!”

Eri chuckled as Fio practically bounced across the demolition expert’s office and into a vacant chair. Fio sat still for a moment before springing back up in excitement.

“Eri! We should have a celebration for them!” she exclaimed while skipping towards the door.

“H-Hey!” Eri began nervously, reaching her hand out in an effort to stop her jovial friend. “Hold on Fio!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Eri?” Fio looked back at her uptight counterpart as her hand slowly turned the doorknob. “Are you done for the day?”

“Uh… No, I have a meeting at three, but—”

“No need to worry, then! I’ll take care of everything!”

“Fio, wai—“ Eri began, but was interrupted by the door closing shut. All she could do was lean back in her chair and sigh. The SPARROWS sergeant wasn’t sure if her friend was oblivious to her displeasure on purpose, or if Fio was just too innocent for her own good. Was a celebration really necessary? Yes, she missed them and all, but as far as she was concerned, a ‘hi, welcome back’ was good enough.

Eri shook her head and smiled. There was no use trying to stop Fio when it came to things like this. Over the past few months, after they had defeated the alien threat and ended the Second Morden War, the four soldiers had spent much time together. Of course, it was all thanks to Tarma. The girls were too shy to act on anything, and Marco quickly became fixated on their next line of action to care. The war was over, but instead of saying goodbyes and returning to their rightful factions, Tarma broke the ice and offered a celebration. After that, he consistently made efforts to bring the group together, and they all became fast friends and comparable allies.

And Eri, well, it was safe to say she found what she had been looking for her entire life. Despite the amount of meetings she had to go to, she was completely content and had never been happier. She was grateful to have Fio around most of the time as well, being the fellow SPARROWS staff sergeant she was, and to have the guys consistently spend time with them was more than she could ever ask for.

But the past few weeks had gotten bizarre, and Eri didn’t like it. The Regular Army was obsessed with finding and destroying every lasting trace of Morden. The Rebel General himself was missing again, but reports from everywhere were coming in, and they got most of the responsibilities. The first mission was given to Major Rossi and Captain Roving, much to the girls’ dismay. The reports were strange, but they left regardless. Eri and Fio were in the dark for an entire week and the recent news was more than welcome.

Eri sighed for the umpteenth time and looked at the stack of unfinished paperwork lying on her desk. Deciding that it wasn’t going anywhere, she got up from her chair and headed out of her office.

Eri had always had a good poker face. She had tough skin and a tough exterior, regardless of what was on the inside. She wasn’t affected by much on an emotional level, a trait which she had become rather proud at, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop a huge, toothy smile from spreading across her lips.

In the hallway right outside her door stood Fio, along with the two expected guests themselves. Fio was absolutely ecstatic, and the men could only do so much to escape her barrage of hugs. It wasn’t long until they noticed Eri.

“Hey!” Tarma laughed in her direction, immediately pushing his sunglasses up to get a better look at her. Marco smiled as well, a rare sight as of late. Eri gave Fio a confused look, silently asking how they had arrived so soon. Fio could only shrug in a fit of giggles.

“You’re here early,” Eri spoke nonchalantly as if they hadn’t been away.

Tarma didn’t seem to care, “Sure are!”

“Don’t you know how fast our choppers can fly?” Marco gave her a friendly interrogative look, which she pleasantly returned.

Tarma slowly made his way past Eri and to her office door, "So how've you girls been? The paperwork treating you well?" Eri could tell when she was being mocked, and it being from Tarma was certainly no better.

"You have no idea how bad it's been here. They won't leave us alone. Not to mention we had no contact with you."

He could only shrug as he opened her door, "What can we say? Duty calls."

Marco followed Tarma into Eri's office, motioning for the girls to follow, "I need to sit down."

"Is your back bothering you, Major? You must be older than I thought," Eri chided. Fio looked at her friend apprehensively.

Marco laughed, before turning completely stoic, "No, _Sergeant_ , old age doesn't hurt my back. Running from giant war-trained hermit crabs does."

The two girls looked at each other in confusion, before following them in. Fio clumsily carried a case in and set it down on Eri's desk.

“I got some beer for you two!”

Tarma smiled, “You’re the best, Fio."

“Hey,” Eri threw her hands up, “What about me? I want some too!”

Tarma grinned, "You have work to do, Sergeant! Is this all yours?" He asked, lifting up the stack of unfinished papers from her desk. Eri jokingly turned to the side and started whistling. They all laughed and opened their bottles, keen on relaxing for as long as they could until someone saw them.

**MS 3**

_Eri_

I flicked threw the channels for what seemed like the millionth time in the last ten minutes, finally stopping on an infomercial featuring combat knives. They weren’t bad by any means, but I’d never stop using mine. We had been through a lot after all. I looked at my television’s clock and read 11:38 p.m. and wondered what I was still doing up. I was tired after today. The guys finally returned home from their mission, much to my contentment, and we celebrated with a few beers before returning to our meetings. I only had one left, but it was a waste of time as usual. I knew gathering and sharing information was important; I had collected intel for nearly two years before coming here, but attending conferences all day certainly wasn’t the most efficient way of doing it.

I sighed, turning off the T.V. and standing up from my couch to get some shut eye. As soon as I decided to head to my bedroom, I heard a knock on my apartment door and jerked myself alert. All intentions of going to sleep were immediately thrown out the window as I checked to make sure my knife was in its holster. I was in a loose white undershirt and a pair of clean shorts, acceptable sleep wear for me, but I hadn’t gotten far enough to remove my thigh holster. I wore it every day, after all, regardless of the situation.

I approached the door, curious as to whom the knocker was. Not many knew where I lived. Not many knew me in general, save for my three companions and those who recognized me from the ‘second war’. I turned the door handle and slowly opened it, preparing for the worst. However, what I was met with couldn’t have been much farther from what I expected.

In front of my doorway stood none other than Captain Tarmicle Roving III, sunglasses and everything. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and focused my vision on him as if attempting to prove his actuality.

“Tarma?”

“Is this a bad time?”

I was completely out of it, but I tried my best not to act like an idiot.

“Uh… No, of course not. Come on in.”

He gave me a smile, but I immediately recognized its uneasiness. He wasn’t here just to say hi, considering it was twenty minutes to twelve.

“You want anything? I got some beer left in the fridge,” I informed him lazily before plopping back down on my couch. He shook his head, turning down my offer of beer for the first time ever, before sitting down in the armchair next to me. We both sat in silence.

“So,” I began as I stifled a yawn. “What’s up?”

He twitched and turned to look at me, my voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Eh, not much. How have you been?”

I blinked in surprise, “I’ve been…ok, I guess.” It was accurately true. The past week had been annoying without them. SPARROWS was giving Fio and I a hard time, and I didn’t have their extra company to look forward to on free nights. Not to mention I missed them dearly, not that I’d ever tell them that. I couldn’t believe the happiness I felt earlier today when Marco and Tarma walked in the door of our office.

“That’s good,” he spoke nonchalantly. I enjoyed seeing him now, but I could clearly tell something was wrong, and I wasn’t going to waste my sleep waiting for him to tell me.

“Tarma,” I began quietly, “What’s the deal? Is something wrong?”

He considered my question before taking off his sunglasses with a yawn. I could see the dark circles under his eyes as he rubbed them in distress.

“I’m leaving for Russia in two days.”

…

I shook my head in disbelief as if he had just suddenly begun speaking a foreign language.

“What…?”

“Flight leaves at 4 a.m. on Thursday. I’m booked with meetings tomorrow, so I wanted to see you and let you know.”

“But… But you just got back?” I asked. It wasn’t really a question, but it might as well have been. Why did he have to leave again?

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Who’s sending you?”

He rested his chin in the palm of his hand before pointing up towards my ceiling with his finger. This wasn’t the first time we had mocked the higher ups, and as far as I was concerned, it wouldn’t be the last.

“Got some real strange reports, so they need someone over there. Turns out I got randomly selected.”

Wait a minute…

“You’re not going alone, are you?”

He frowned and withheld his answer from me for a good amount of time. Luckily for him, I had gotten the message.

“It’s supposed to be under cover or something. You know, espionage? I’m just supposed sniff around and see what’s going on.”

I frowned and kept my anger in check, “And what happens if they want you to sniff around enemy territory? What then?”

He sighed, but I didn’t back down. This was stupid, and I didn’t need to know all the details to understand that the Regular Army officials were desperate for information.

“Let me come then.”

He looked at me, but I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't hear me, or he just thought I was crazy. Was it that ridiculous of a request? I didn't really care to be honest.

"I'd love to have you, but I can't."

"And why not?"

If he thought I was just going to roll over and take it then he was dead wrong.

"Eri, I don't know what's going on. _No one_ knows what's going on. It'd be better if you stayed here. I was the only one selected for a reason after all. I shouldn't be long."

I had to take in a deep breath to avoid slapping him upside the head and telling him how stupid he sounded.

"So what? We're just gonna let you go across the world into _Russia_ of all places with no information? Do you know how many connections Morden had in Russia?" I interrogated. My voice began to unintentionally rise, but I couldn't help myself.

"We have reports about what's going on. It's just some more remains of-"

"And what if it's not remains? What if it's the real thing? You think _I’m_ going to let you go alone? With respect, _sir_ , I don't care how good you or Marco think you are. This is completely idiotic. It's the Regular Army being desperate for anything Morden related."

He sat there and took all of my sass without any hesitation. I felt bad, not exactly trying to tear into him, but I was always passionate over the few things I cared about. I had seen these kind of missions before in my spying days, and I'd be damned if I was gonna let any one of my friends go off alone like this. Tarma especially.

I thought of apologizing, but knew Tarma wasn't a two year old. I knew I was hot headed at times and could be unfair, but he was never offended by me. He always listened and contemplated my words, no matter how arrogant they were. It was one of the many things I'd never admit to loving about him.

In a last effort to persuade him, I leaned forward and laid my chin in my palm, matching his own position. He looked at me and I got a good glimpse of his unshaded eyes for the first time in weeks.

"Take me with you."

"Eri..."

"You can't do it without me, and I certainly can't do it without you. If you're so adamant on keeping us here, then spare Marco and Fio and take me. What is there to lose?"

He frowned, "Well, you, for starters."

I closed my eyes and sighed. I had finally gotten past the regretful drama of my life thanks to him, and I didn't want him bringing me back.

"Tarma, please don't go there," I both pleaded and warned. Analyzing the emotions held between our platonic relationship was not something I was ready for.

"Remember our second mission together? The one in the underground base with the mummies and the excavator?" I continued.

"How could I not?"

I took a hesitant breath and continued, "Well you did a lot for me back then and I never got a chance to thank you, Captain..."

"Hey, hey, Eri-"

"But I also distinctly remember you saying to me, on multiple occasions, that you were glad I was there. I don't want you to go to the most Morden-centric country on the planet and regret being alone."

He sat in thought; his five o'clock shadow made him look even more tired and worn than he was.

"Geez, Eri," he began with a hand rummaging through his hair, "When did you get so deep?"

I chuckled, "You made me. My yelling certainly didn't make it through your thick head." His laugh was music to my ears.

"Fine, you win. I can't argue with you."

"That's what I thought."

He stood from my armchair and stretched his legs, "Well we're gonna have to figure out how to get you on this mission tomorrow..."

"I'll go to one of your meetings on it and we'll ask like civilized lapdogs. If that doesn't work, I'll try and get clearance from SPARROWS as part of an intelligence assignment."

He nodded and I looked at him with an uneasy smile, "And if _that_ doesn’t work... I could always just sneak on the plane undercover?" I said, asking his permission in the process. He just laughed at me like always.

"Sounds good. We'll figure it out tomorrow. I'll keep you posted."

"Kay."

"Night Eri," he waved before walking to the door.

"Tarma," I called after him and he turned, "Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it."

"Sure thing. That's what partners do, right?"

Yeah, it was what partners did. He was my partner and I was his. Marco was his partner and he was Marco's. Fio was mine and I was hers. We were all partners together. But better yet, we were all friends. They had brought me into their crazy lives, and now they were stuck with me. I wasn't going to let them do anything stupid without me.

And that certainly meant something with Tarmicle Roving.


	8. Chapter 8

“So Eri’s going with you?”

Tarma returned his friend’s look with a nod. “That's the plan.”

“You sure that’s a good idea Tarma? You’re just supposed to gather intel, not start anything.”

“I could use the backup. Things are never that simple. Besides, it’s not like I had a choice. She practically held me at gunpoint forcing me to take her.”

Marco grinned with a curiously raised eyebrow, “If you say so. You two be careful then. I got another lead on something new, so I’ll have my hands full with that for the next few days.”

The reports were in and they were strange indeed. The Regular Army’s jurisdiction and protection stretched across the globe, holding major ties and authorities in most countries, but that didn’t stop Donald Morden from spreading his name everywhere. Russia wasn’t an enemy to anyone, as it was a key part to the Regular Army and its world government coalition. That being said, much of the largest country on Earth had been susceptible to Morden’s influences, and Rebel bases were hidden everywhere, including Siberia. There were reports filed regarding a civilian plane crash in the Ural Mountain range in western Russia, and its survivors went missing. More resources were used to gather more intelligence, and before they knew it, the Regular Army found Rebel connections in play. The intensity of the rebel presence was unknown, and it was now up to Captain Tarma Roving of the Peregrine Falcons Squad and SPARROWS Sergeant Eri Kasamoto to piece it together. Fortunately for them, the Regular Army recognized Eri’s skill in reconnaissance and granted her permission to go. They had to admit, they were glad their superiors finally agreed with them on something.

**MS 3**

"I swear, if I have to sit through another one of those meetings, I'm going to kill myself."

Tarma looked at his female friend with a mocking smirk. "You wanted to come. I warned you."

She didn't take the bait, "Yeah, well thank God I'm going, ‘cause I need a break from this crap. I'm sure I would've had to sit through them anyway."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They both sat on Eri's couch in her apartment. As Tarma had warned, it had been a long and boring day of assemblies regarding their mission. The two finished up at the office and left to pack, before Tarma showed up one last time for a final beer with her. On top of that, their flight left at four in the morning, and it was already eight.

They both simultaneously sighed, before Eri broke the silence. "How did Marco react? I'm sure he's busy with other stuff."

"Eh, you know him. Told us to be careful. Said he's onto something new. Did you talk to him today?"

Eri frowned, almost ashamed of herself, "No... Barely had time, and when I did, he didn't." She felt bad for not notifying or saying goodbye to the Major.

"Don't worry about it. We just have to do our stuff and come back safely and as soon as possible." Tarma turned to Eri with a laugh, "You have no idea how much Fio stressed that to me."

"I got the spiel from her too, believe me."

They lazily chuckled together before finishing their beers and seeing each other off until the morning. They would only get a few hours of sleep, but they couldn't afford any more. This was it.

**MS 3**

_Eri_

_~ Ring ~ Ring ~ Ring ~_

I sloppily rolled over after being disturbed from what little sleep I had to grab my phone next to my bed. The ringing noise had already given me a headache after being awake for less than thirty seconds. I peeled my eyes open as best as I could to look at the glowing screen. Then they immediately shot open upon seeing the familiar name calling. Why was he calling? What time was it? Oh shoot, did I oversleep!?

No… I had set my alarm. I looked at the bold, red numbers on my clock which read 1:20 A.M. Huh, I still had about an hour or two left to sleep…

I cleared my throat and wracked my brain for decency, “Hello?” It came out hoarse and crackly.

“Hey, it’s me,” the recognizable voice of my Captain nearly stirred me back to sleep.

“What’s up?”

“Sleep well?”

I rubbed my nose in apprehension. I knew Tarma well and I knew how he acted towards me in certain situations. This was either an insensitive pep talk, or he was cozying up to me before breaking some bad news.

“It was an average four hours. You probably sound better than I do.”

I could hear him chuckle through the phone, “Sorry honey, but your day is only gonna get worse from here.”

My face flushed and my headache surged. I hated when he spoke to me like that, even if it was a joke. Just a simple nickname was enough to get me riled up. Deep down I knew why, but blaming it on my hotheadedness was easier to accept.

I sighed and collected my thoughts, “Care to elaborate?”

“I’ll tell you what I can. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear this, but plans have changed.”

“Should I begin regretting signing up to this?”

I smiled at hearing his laughter again. At this point, I shouldn’t have expected anything to be easy when the Regular Army was in charge.

“My guess is yes, but we’ll find out in an hour. We’re not taking the flight. We’re to meet at the air base at two thirty. Take only what you can carry,” he listed what he had been told from memory. “I guess we’re going in hard.”

“Lovely. Will we ever get a twelve hour notice for anything?” I asked half-heartedly. We were informed about a change in plans just three hours before our original departure. If I ever met the person in charge of these changes, I’d slap them sky high.

“Would you like a vacation with that?”

I laughed and sighed at the same time. Hearing this I almost did regret joining this stupid mission, but I knew having Tarma go through it alone would tear me apart.

“Well I guess I better get ready…” I was absolutely dreading getting out of bed, not even thinking about what came after.

“You want me to pick you up?”

My heart nearly fluttered at his offer. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep, and if I couldn’t do that, sitting and waiting was the next best option. Driving certainly wasn’t. I smiled to myself at his thoughtfulness, trying not so sound like an abuser.

“Could you? I mean…if it’s too much trouble then—”

“Chill, Eri. It’s fine, that’s why I offered. I’ll be there in half an hour. That enough time for ya?”

I looked back at my clock. 1:28 A.M. He certainly spoiled me sometimes.

“Y-Yeah.”

“Great. Later.”

“Bye.”

I heard him hang up and end the call, and I rocketed out of bed. The initial breeze of air-conditioning hit my un-blanketed body and I shivered. I hated the early morning cold.

Cold…

I just remembered where we were going. We were going to Russia. It was cold there, especially in the mountains. I had only been there once, on a ‘business’ trip to Moscow, but never in the rural areas. I needed to dress appropriately, but Tarma said we were going in ‘hard’. Putting the thought to the side, I zipped into the shower to refresh. Stepping out of the hot water was just as hard as getting out of bed, so I did it quickly, like peeling off a band-aid. I looked in my bathroom mirror and raked a brush through my messy blonde hair before tying it into a lazy pony tail. I was never one to pamper my appearance. I looked how I looked and no amount of silly makeup or hair design would change that. Even if I wanted to look ‘good’, I didn’t live the kind of life to do so.

Returning to my bedroom, I searched for any clothes that would do the job. Laundry was beginning to pile up, being as lazy as I was, so my selection was somewhat limited. I finally opted for a black turtleneck and black leggings. After all, dark colors never hurt in reconnaissance. I slipped my green, standard issue cargo shorts over my leggings, more for the utility and pocket space, and slung my heavy, green vest over my turtleneck. It felt comfortable enough, so I just went with it. As the ‘pièce de résistance’, I tied my favorite green bandana over my head. Done.

Shrugging to myself in acceptance, I began to collect the more important things. I tucked my beloved 1915 .38 Mark 1 American revolver into my vest, followed by my Glock service handgun. I poured countless bullets into my pockets and attached bullet packs to my waistline. Finally, my knife holster fastened around my covered left thigh and I was good to go. I searched around for anything else that caught my eye. I wasn’t taking any chances given our mission and destination, so anything from rations to matches to batteries went into my vest. I gained about twenty pounds, but it was nothing I couldn’t and hadn’t dealt with before.

The sudden knock on my door tore me away from my last minute rummaging. It was already two, so I wasn’t surprised. I opened the door to my apartment and was met with the familiar sight of Tarma, like so many times as of late.

“Hey,” he said lazily.

“Hey yourself.”

He scratched his chin apprehensively, “You ready for this?” I could tell he meant in general and not to leave. Good to know I wasn’t the only one anxious about this whole thing.

“Yeah,” I sighed. After what we went through months ago in the second war and what we encountered, going into Russia to investigate strange rumors should have felt like nothing, but it certainly didn’t. It didn't matter what kind of job or how hard it is; something could always go wrong, and that fact drilled itself into the back of my mind. “I guess I’m all ready. Am I forgetting anything?”

He eyed me up, taking note of my equipment, and I took the time to do the same to him. He was dressed in his usual field attire: his yellow combat vest, white tank top, green combat pants, and boots to match. I figured he had another jacket or something in his truck since we were going to Russia of all places. Giving him the benefit of the doubt was the least I could do.

And yes, he had his sunglasses on. I was honestly beginning to think he was insecure about his eyes or something. I made a mental note to ask him about it someday.

“Nah, you look good.”

There he goes again, getting all chummy with me. And there I go again, falling for it.

“T-Thanks, you too.” I responded stupidly, finding nothing else to say. He chuckled before I continued. “But please tell me you’re not just wearing that…?”

The man frowned at me. So much for giving him the benefit of the doubt.

“Am I supposed to be wearing something else?”

“We’re going to Russia. You know, Russia? Big, bad, cold Mother Russia? Into the mountains no less…” He looked over himself and shrugged.

“Eh, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

All I could do was roll my eyes, “Don’t come crying to me when you’re freezing your butt off…”

“Ha ha… I wouldn’t dream of it,” he snickered. “But we better get going.”

“Ok, lemme lock up. Wouldn’t want Fio breaking in and stealing my exotic tea.”

“You have exotic tea?”

My intentionally blank expression gave him his answer and he grinned in response.

I locked my apartment door and trailed my Captain out to his truck. Or at least what I thought was his truck. We walked out into the pitch black parking lot and I followed him to a lone motorcycle.

“Are you serious…?”

He laughed again and shrugged off my comment, “Don’t act so thrilled.”

“Why didn’t you take your truck?” I didn’t know why it bothered me, but it did. The fact that I was about to ride with Tarma Roving on his motorcycle was near psychedelic.

“They have terrible parking there and I got permission to leave this in one the hangars until we get back. I mean, if you really don’t like it, you can always take—“

I shook my head and resisted the urge to slap myself. Here he was doing me a favor and I was complaining like a spoiled brat. “No, it’s fine. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just a little cranky this morning…”

“Eh, don’t sweat it. You certainly have an excuse.”

He got on and turned the ignition. The bike roared to life with its blinding light and deafening sound. I couldn’t help but wince, not necessarily excited to get going. Then I saw his expectant look.

“I… I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle before…”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, “No kidding? Well don’t worry, ‘cause it ain’t rocket science. Just hop on and don’t fall off.”

“Somehow I’m sure that’s easier said than done.” I walked up to the intimidating vehicle and climbed on the seat behind Tarma. He scooched forward to give me room and I fit snuggly against him. Thankfully, our vests took up most of the touching. I was never one for physical contact, and it seemed like my timidity went noticed with an ever so familiar chuckle.

“I don’t bite, Eri.”

“I know… I’m just… I’m sorry…” I looked straight into his back with a red face, suddenly thankful for my position behind him.

He turned his head to the side to look at me, “You’re gonna have to hold on though. If anything’s wrong, just lemme know.”

I gulped and hesitantly locked my arms around his waist, “Ok, let’s go.”

With my signal, we took off down the road at a blazing speed. I never liked driving or even riding in vehicles, and this was no different, but I quickly got used to it. As we rode on the dark highways with only a few cars passing by, my mind drifted back to the times Tarma had told me about his motorcycle hobby. The first time as I still remembered, during one of our first missions together, he told me about his dream to open his own bike shop. Then in the following months that I got to know him better, he commonly talked about his own bikes and I certainly recognized his mechanical skills. I knew he took pride in his bikes, and riding on one with him now made me feel good inside. Whether that meant anything in reality, I wasn’t sure, but it helped my conscious quite a bit.

**MS 3**

_Tarma_

All this time I’d been running my mouth about bikes and the girl’s never even rode one before. So much for being smooth. Guess I’d have to let her try some out once we got back.

The drive was as boring as ever. Few cars were out this early in the morning and there was a bit of fog from what I could see with my headlight. Eri’s arms around my waist were the only sign I had that she was still with me. Maybe I should’ve just brought my truck; would’ve made talking a lot easier. Then again I’m sure Eri would have been as quiet as ever. After seeing her early in the office on multiple occasions, I learned that she wasn’t that big of a morning person. Lucky for her, she’d have a hell of a lot of time to rest on the way over.

Bright spotlights began to appear on our left and I searched for the exit towards the air base. A few more minutes and turns later, we pulled up to the initial gate to get passed by surveillance. We sat on my idle bike under the intense spotlights and waited in front of the barrier. I watched two men in the small guard shelter talk to each other before one came out and greeted me.

“Mornin’ Captain  Roving, Sergeant Kasamoto,” the guard worker spoke with an expected southern accent. We had been situated in Dallas for the past several months after all, and we certainly experienced the difference between it and other parts of the country. I felt Eri shift slightly behind me.

“Morning officer. How’s your shift going?”

He smiled, “Eh, the same as usual. The less unimportant people, the better. Can I bother y’all for identification?”

“You sure can,” I spoke before reaching into my pants for my wallet. Eri seemed to do the same. “Here you are, sir.”

He shined a flashlight on my license and badges, which I thought was completely unnecessary due to the spotlights, before handing them back and turning to Eri’s. With a nod, he gave Eri back her credentials and saluted us. “Good luck Captain, Sergeant. Whatever any of the other folks say, we be rootin’ for you down here.”

“I appreciate it officer. You guys take care, and don’t take crap from anyone,” I told him with a nod in return. He answered with an ‘all righty, sir’ and I revved the engine. Giving the other man inside a wave, which he gladly returned by raising the barrier and opening the gate, I drove in eager to get this over with. I wanted to focus on the mission and nothing else. Hopefully our briefing and travel procedures wouldn’t be horrendous.

We were told to meet at hangar 4E by two thirty, so if I could find it in the next five minutes, we’d be golden and hopefully on our way out. It took a few wrong turns and some help from Eri before we arrived, but our company wasn’t what I expected. Waiting for us was none other than Marco Rossi himself, and no one else.

“It’s… It’s Marco…” I heard Eri remark. She seemed just as surprised as I was. I certainly didn’t talk and receive orders from Marco on the phone. Parking my bike safely inside the hangar, I got up and greeted him a bit more warmly than usual. The smile on my face gave it away.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“What, you think I’m just gonna let half my team fly away by themselves like that?”

Eri furrowed her eyebrows, but her smile persisted, “You’re coming with us?”

“No, I’ve got my own work to do. You two are the poor suckers who got put up to this, not me.” He spoke while lighting a cigarette, and Eri and I asked for one between chuckles. “But I don’t wanna regret not coming, so I’m taking charge here. You are my subordinates after all. It would be irresponsible of me not to look out for you.”

Eri showed her fangs in a devilish smirk, “How kind of you, Major. You really are a softy deep down.” I laughed while swelling with pride. I certainly did a good job of pulling Eri over to my side. Marco smiled and puffed his nicotine.

“Well this is all the help you’re going to get, Sergeant. You two are on your own after this, so be careful,” his demeanor quickly changed into a more serious one. Time to pay attention.

“The reason you’re here right now and not getting out of bed to get on your flight is because we just got some new intelligence. We pinpointed the crash zone of the passenger airliner in the Ural Mountains, and…” he paused, quickly gathering our attention. We all exhaled smoke at the same time. “I don’t like what I’ve heard. We don’t have much info, but I think there’s something suspicious going on that definitely needs some looking into, I’m just not sure how much looking into.”

I cleared my throat, “Well if it makes you suspicious then I guess we better watch ourselves. Everything else the same? No survivors found, no surrounding involvement?”

“Haven’t gotten anything on any survivors, but we’re not so sure about the involvement. The Intel’s been pretty vague on that, but it’s been enough to warrant suspicion. A plane crashed in the Ural Mountains. Anything could have happened, and I wouldn’t be surprised if something Morden related was involved. Our original guess was the Rebel Army, and we're getting closer and closer to proving it."

"Ok, but why send just us? And why do everything so secretly? I'm not exactly comfortable being dropped off in Russia only with Eri and not knowing what we're up against." I spoke out. It was too late to keep my worries locked inside.

"That's the thing. We don't know what's there. If we send a bunch of Regular forces over, and there turns out to be Morden troops in the Mountains, we've got ourselves another war. I know the Regular Army's never shied away from fighting, but I guess they don't want to now. They’re trying to limit casualties, and you’re the bait. You two are being sent over to gather information about the situation and report back. Then they'll decide what to do after that."

Eri examined her lit cigarette with a sour look on her face and I raised my shades over my head.

“I don’t think this will just be a reconnaissance mission for you two,” my best friend continued, “I’m asking you to take responsibility. You seem prepared enough, but we’re just sending you two. No one else. It’s a huge risk and I hate it as much as you do, but we clearly don’t have a choice.” His words made me frown, but I knew they were true. I was skeptical of this whole thing. It was beginning to sound more and more like a strike against Morden than a simple intelligence run. Hell, Marco had been arguing against it the ever since we got back, and not just to me.

“You can count on us, Major Marco.”

It was Eri who spoke. She finally seemed half-awake. “That’s why I’m going after all. Two heads are always better than one, especially his,” she pointed to me. Why I oughta— “Some of my previous recon missions turned for the worst, so I know how to deal with it. We’ll keep you guys in mind before doing anything stupid.”

Marco smiled genuinely for the first time since the end of the second war. “I appreciate it, Eri. We’re a small force, and I'd like to keep it that way. I don’t want to be searching for replacements. Your lives are what matter, not just your service. Tarma?”

I turned and gave him an inquisitive look. This better not be another tease. “Yo.”

“Don’t mess this up. Don’t die and take care of Eri. I haven’t kept you around this long so you could get you and my Sergeant killed in Russia.”

I raised my hands in mocking defense, “Geez, no respect, huh Major? Here I was thinking you kept me around to save your sorry ass all the time…” Eri laughed, seemingly returning to my side. Marco just sighed and dramatically face palmed.

“Why do I even bother with you two… Germi’s so much easier to handle.” Eri and I traded prideful smiles with each other. “Anyway, listen up. I got two jets and two pilots for you. They’ll drop you off a mile or two from the crash site, obviously somewhere out of range. Should take roughly six or seven hours. Russia isn’t hostile. There’re Regular forces in Moscow, so use your radio for pickup or backup or whatever. There’s a possibility you’re communication could get tapped, so only use it in an emergency. You’re not there to declare war, so just sniff out what you need, examine the site if possible, and get out. I expect you back in a day or two.”

Tarma shook his head, "If the Regular Army has forces in Russia, then why not send one of their spies over? Why do we have to get dragged across the planet?”

"I have no idea. I guess 'cause we're special and can be counted on. Doesn't change the fact that you're still going, so be prepared."

I always respected Marco for his ability to give me a simplified version of everything. Getting the rundown from him was refreshing compared to our other supervisors.

“Yessir,” Eri saluted. I did the same, just much less professionally. “Sure thing, pal.”

“Then get going. I need some sleep.”

“No kidding.”


	9. Chapter 9

The two soldiers saluted their respective pilots and prepared for their high speed flight. They had only what they had packed into their vests. Heeding Marco’s warnings, both Tarma and Eri knew not to take their mission lightly. A passenger airliner had mysteriously crashed in the Ural Mountain range running through western Russia, and its passengers gone missing. No evidence had been found, save for the crash site’s location, and it was up to them to piece everything else together and report back to the Regular Army under the PF Squad and SPARROWS.

Seven and a half hours and some much needed sleep later, they arrived at their destination. They were dropped off nearly a mile south of the supposed crash site and they made their way along a path at the base of the mountains. Taking the time zone change as well as the flight time into account, it was now a very dark and cold eight o’clock p.m. in the Ural Mountains of Russia.

“What on Earth are we doing here? How did we get ourselves into this?” Tarma complained for the tenth time since landing. Eri silently watched his breath condense into the cold air as their boots crunched in the light snow underfoot. What were they doing here? The more Eri listened to Tarma complain, the more she began to agree with him, and that shocked her. She normally hated complainers.

And so much for dressing warmly, she thought. Wearing her current attire at night in the Urals in late September was plain idiotic. A turtle neck and leggings was obviously not the right choice. She and Tarma must have gotten used to the Texas heat.

“I-I’m not really sure. How are you not f-freezing?”

The man in question turned to her wearing nothing but a tank top, his sleeveless vest and a pair of pants. His sunglasses were on, despite it being dark out. It was a good thing they had their flashlights. Forgetting about the time change was something neither of them wanted to admit.

“Eh, you’ll warm up. Just give it some time.”

“If I give it anymore time, I might freeze to death!”

He sighed, and his condensed breath further proved her point. “Hey, at least we’re not in the blasted desert again. I’d gladly freeze my butt off out here than go there again.”

Eri had come to realize that Tarma made it a key point to consistently complain about the Arabian desert ever since their mission months ago. But even she had to agree with him at times. The sand was just too much.

“I won’t say you’re right, b-but… Let’s just hurry and find this c-crash site.” Eri couldn’t stop her teeth from shivering. Tarma noticed with a smile.

“Are you really that cold, Eri? Would you like a hug to warm up?”

Her face shot pink and she grimaced, clutching her arms for warmth, “S-Shut up…”

“Suit yourself. Offer’s always open.”

They began walking along the snowy path into the mountains. There were trees at the bases, forming snowy forests within the valleys. It would have been nice scenery if they could see and weren't freezing. All Tarma had was a compass to go by. The pilots told them they had been dropped off just south of the so-called 'crash-site'. Tarma didn't feel like arguing. North they went. Hopefully they'd find something before the night got too dark and the temperature got too low. Or before something or someone else found them. Eri shivered again, which Tarma noted was more like a twitch. He frowned at the back of the girl's head as he walked behind her.

"Eri, you all right? If you seriously don't feel-"

"N-No, it's ok..." She hastily cut him off. "I'm just a little uneasy is all. This-This place kinda gives me the creeps..."

"Why? It's just a buncha trees and snow."

"I-I dunno. Just have a weird f-feeling about this." She spoke while looking forward, but then turned to him with a flushed face. "I-I mean we could find anything out here...and when we're d-done it'll still be a few hours to wait for p-pick up...and--"

"Geez Eri, you really are out of it. Everything's gonna be fine, so relax." His reassurance didn't seem to help her. The blonde wrapped her arms tighter around her body and let out a deep breath. Tarma sighed, "Why are you so nervous? We've been through this kinda crap before. Who knows? Maybe there's nothing out there. It was just a plane crash after all."

"Then why were _we_ sent to find out..."

"Ok, I see your point," he seceded, "but you have to stop, 'cause you're starting to make me nervous too."

Eri looked up at the uneasy smile on his face and smiled herself. He was right, she needed to lighten up if they were going to make it through painlessly. She rubbed her red nose and chuckled, "Captain Tarma? Nervous? That can't be..."

He instantly cheered up, "Hey, you're supposed to be the hard-nosed, sober one. I'm just here for comic relief."

Eri's stifled laughter echoed through the dark, snowy forest. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, I mean what else am I good for?"

Eri crossed her arms over her chest and mumbled to herself with a smirk, "I can think of a few things..."

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing!"

Tarma raised his sunglasses and squinted his eyes at his rosy-faced partner, "I'm watching you, Sergeant. So don't pull anything funny."

"A-Aye aye, Captain."

 The two laughed off their miscommunication as they always had and turned their focus to walking. Granted it was much more boring and lonely, but they needed their minds in top form to tackle their 'mission'. Obsessing over emotions and instincts would not get the job done. Tarma would much rather be joking around with Eri in his office along with Marco and Fio right now, and he knew she would too, but their lives were at stake, as well as others. For better or for worse, they were immediately thrown back into the fire.

"O-Oh my God..."

Eri's shivering whisper barely made it to Tarma's ears before she took off in front of him.

"Hey!"

The Sergeant ignored him and sprinted straight ahead through the snow. Unfortunately for Tarma, the snow wasn't deep, so Eri was able to run like a gazelle. The Captain on the other hand ran more like a bear on its hind legs. He mumbled under his breath and took off after her, not wanting to lose sight of the blonde. She soon stopped ahead of him, and the reason for her outburst quickly sunk in. Below Eri's now kneeling form was a body lying in the snow. Tarma slowed to a walking speed and gathered his breath before paying closer attention. It was a man, and he was in terrible shape. His bloody and bruised body was visible under his torn clothing and the dirty snow surrounding him said he had been there a while. Even still, Tarma saw that he was alive.

"Jesus... Good eye, Eri."

She acknowledged his words, but kept her focus on the injured man.

"A-Are you okay? What happened? C-Can you move at all?"

Eri was bent over in the snow above the man's body, carefully examining his condition and trying to still her shivering teeth. Tarma remained standing with his shades on, shining a flashlight over the hurt stranger so Eri could see.

"S-Sir, can you talk? I need some sort of sign…"

The man's body twitched and he stared straight up into the sky, as if the two soldiers weren't there.

"S-Stay away..."

Tarma and Eri both flinched at the damaged voice.

"T-They'll come...f-for you... N-No s-s-survivors... They've..."

The already tense atmosphere around the two quickly became denser. Eri couldn't take it.

"W-What do you mean? Who will come for us? A-Are you from the plane crash?"

"Eri."

The man's body started trembling, most likely from the pain. "D-Don't go... L-Leave...or y-you'll…become..."

"Eri..."

The SPARROWS soldier leaned back on her hands as the man lost all feeling and went limp. They both stared in shock. Eri sighed and Tarma cursed.

“N-No…he’s…”

"Dammit."

Before the soldiers could collect themselves, the lifeless body below them moved. It started jerking around again and Tarma directed his light onto it to see what was happening, but he was too late. The man lunged at Eri with a throat-wrenching moan, and Eri, not expecting it in the slightest, screamed.

“AAAAHHHH!!!”

“Holy shit! Eri!”

Eri fought the possessed man on her back in the snow, resisting the thing in any way possible, as it ruthlessly swiped and clawed at the woman. Tarma ran over and kicked the stranger off of her and onto the ground. The PF Squad Captain immediately pulled out his Murder .50AE handgun and aimed it at the twitching body in the snow, along with his flashlight. Eri watched in shock from her previous spot, not bothering to move.

“You got five seconds to explain yourself before I put a bullet in your head.”

He had no idea what was happening. Normally he wouldn’t threaten someone like this, but this ‘someone’ wasn’t a normal case. Tarma watched in disgust as the man writhed on the ground like a worm with its head cut off. The figure began emitting guttural noises, which sent shivers down their spines, and the Captain tightened his grip on his gun.

“Five… Four… Three…”

“Tarma b-be careful…”

“Two…”

It’s squirming came to a full stop and they watched in horror as it picked itself up off the ground and stood up. As oblivious as it had been, the body began limping towards Tarma.

“One…”

Tarma stood still as the limping stranger leapt towards him as it had with Eri. His gun immediately went off and echoed through the entire mountain range; all but exploding the unfamiliar’s head as its body fell to the floor with a lifeless thump.

“Ugh, Goddammit…”

“Tarma… A-Are you okay?” Eri questioned with her back to the snow, propped up on her elbows. She got up as if she was blind, only able to see what Tarma’s flashlight revealed, before turning hers on and shining it at her friend.

“Gah!”

Her light revealed a bloody-faced Tarma with a disgusted look on his face. “T-Tarma?”

“Relax,” he spoke, and she watched his frosty breath vaporize into the air. “It ain’t mine. Don’t come closer though, this stuff stinks to high heaven.”

Eri jerked herself to a stop, still just feet away from him. His face was covered in blood, with a bit on his vest and shirt. He took his shades off to clean them, which revealed two bare spots around his eyes.

“Haha… You look great.”

“I’m sure I do, but I certainly feel far from it.”

Tarma swiftly took his vest off and tossed it on the ground before stripping his tank top off to wipe his face. Eri turned a blind eye in respect, but it was more for her own sanity. She doubted Tarma would care if she peeped, but _she_ definitely would. He redressed with a blood-stained tank top on underneath his combat vest, but his clean face was a friendly sight to Eri’s sore eyes.

"A-Are you okay now?"

Tarma frowned again, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? How 'bout you? That thing was _on_ you."

"I-I'm fine... Just got a scratch on my arm is all," she shrugged. Tarma noticed she was acting much more timid than usual. The normal Eri would be cursing and spitting on the dead body for scaring her. Maybe she was a bit more shaken than he thought. The Captain narrowed his eyes.

"Lemme see."

"It-It's fine--"

"Give me your arm, Eri."

The SPARROWS Sergeant shied away from his gruff command and stuck out her arm. Tarma raised his flashlight over her limb and grimaced at the sizeable, raw scratch marks. They weren't terrible, but enough to drawn blood, and that was enough to worry Tarma. Whether they were from the man’s teeth or nails, he wasn’t sure. The Japanese man swiftly dove into his backpack for the clean gauze he had remembered to pack and wrapped Eri's arm up.

"Thanks...Captain..."

"C'mon, we gotta get moving. At this rate we'll be here forever."

Eri frowned at his sudden despondency. Rarely did he get super serious about things. She thought about digging for reasons, but decided to let it go and focus on the mission.

“So um…w-what the hell just happened?”

Tarma answered by shining his light on the headless body below them. It was completely unrecognizable. Certainly this thing wasn’t the man they had found just moments before? It looked completely deformed and its pigmentation was almost a dark blue.

“I have no idea.  He looks like a zombie to be honest…”

Eri shot him an incredulous look, “Really? A _zombie_?”

“Hey… It’s certainly not out of the question compared to what we’ve seen before. Mummies, aliens, giant hermit crabs… Remember those super soldiers down in the subway?”

If she wasn’t already shivering from the cold, she would have shivered from the thought. “I get it. Don’t remind me.” Tarma turned his attention from the rotten body to Eri, looking her up and down, before staring at her wrapped up forearm. She kept it limp as if to ease any pain from the scratch, but she didn’t notice his gaze. The P.F. Squad Captain frowned and looked back at the body in thought.

“I don’t know… Maybe he got an infection? Certain viruses are known to make people go mad, but I’ve never seen side effects like this before.”

Eri thought with a smirk, “You a doctor?”

“No, but I was forced to take some medical classes, so I ain’t no dummy,” he joked. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like we should get a move on. I hope nobody heard my gunshot, but if anyone is out there, it’s a good bet they know we’re here.”

“Shoot, you’re right. Let’s go.”

Pushing the horrid picture of the lifeless body out of their minds, Tarma and Eri continued trudging through the woods near the mountains’ base. The crunching noise between their boots and the snow underfoot helped ease their nerves. After what they just experienced, something told them Marco was right. This wasn’t going to be an ordinary intelligence run and they were the ones who had to find out.

“Tarma?”

“Hm?”

“You got any t-tissues?”

Captain Roving craned his head back to look at his comrade walking just feet behind him with a perplexed smile. She was wriggling her nose around, as if trying not to sneeze. He let out a chuckle. He had come to know Eri as a very strong, independent, and stoic woman; other times she could act like an innocent four year old. It was endearing, to say the least.

“No, I don’t have any _tissues_. Looks like you’ll have to stick it out.”

A high-pitched sneeze was followed by a stuffy grunt, “Ugh… I think I’m g-getting sick… M-Must be this stup-pid weather…”

“Just keep walking Eri. Try and take your mind off it. Don’t mean to sound like a wet blanket, but we gotta keep our eyes and ears open.” He heard a soft ‘yeah’ and a stifled groan in response and they both continued walking. There were less and less trees as they went, and before the two knew it, they were out of the sectional forest and on another worn down mountain trail. It was certainly travelled on before. It was possible these mountains were home to indigenous people, or were visited by outsiders quite often. The open path could even pass as a road up into the mountains. And so the two companions continued north searching for anything that would lead them closer to a discovery. What that discovery would be, they had no idea.

“How’re you doing back there?” Tarma asked with a half smile. He looked back and saw his friend blankly staring right at him. “Uh… Eri?”

“I feel horrible,” she finally croaked. “I have a terrible headache and it feels like my chest is on fire.” Eri interrupted any further discussion with another sneeze, and Tarma frowned to himself as they both stalked forward. Their vision soon came upon a ledge. It jutted out from the mountain trail and looked over the snowy ground below. Tarma walked up to the edge of it, careful to test its sturdiness to avoid any catastrophes. He also made sure Eri was a ways behind him. Her void expression told him she didn’t care too much.

Tarma peered over the ledge to get a better look at what lay below. Despite his earlier precautions, he very nearly fell off the cliff at what he saw. Nearly seventy-five feet below, countless bodies littered the snowy ground.  All Tarma could do was lift his sunglasses onto his head and look on in shock.  Some of them were moving, just barely from what he could see, and others simply lay there motionless.

“What the­—“

Tarma immediately cut himself off with a groan at what he saw next. Off to the side, already covered in a full sheet of snow, were the remains of the passenger airliner that crashed not too long ago. Parts were scattered all across the landscape, but the main hull, split into nearly three pieces, surrounded the bodies.

“Seriously…?”

Tarma dragged his hand over his face. So this is what happened after all. The plane crashed, and the passengers were killed. And to top it off, it didn’t seem like anyone had bothered to check.

“Hold on a second…” Tarma spoke to himself again. He surveyed the ground below again to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. He wasn’t seeing things…

Some of them were moving. Had they survived? It had been a little less than a week since news of the crash got out. Surely they weren’t able to survive up in these mountains injured for that long…

Or were those rebel troops?

Was that man they saw earlier one of them? That… _thing_?

He backed away from the edge of the cliff slowly. Eri hadn’t once made her presence felt since he looked over. Normally she’d be the first one to jump at clues like these. But before Tarma could turn around to his counterpart, a gut-wrenching moan sounded from behind him. He immediately turned around and found himself face to face with… _something_.

Stuck between the body and the cliff, Tarma didn’t feel like asking questions. He punched the groaning being in its face and pulled out his combat knife as it stumbled back. It was incredibly slow, but clearly wasn’t friendly. Tarma frantically took the time to search for Eri, who was propped up against a large rock just feet away, watching him. She looked okay, so that was enough for him. Tarma took hold of his knife and whipped it at the creature’s head. It stuck into its forehead, and the creature practically melted to the ground.

“God…damn…” Tarma swore through breaths. Dying from a heart attack was the last thing he wanted to happen to him. He combed a hand through his disheveled hair. So far this mission had clearly been more than he wanted. Taking a deep breath, he walked up and looked over the distorted body.

He couldn’t even tell what it was anymore. Its limbs were piled up on top of each other, and the rags it wore were all over the place. Even still, this was enough to confirm any fears Tarma had. It was obviously humanoid, but its skin had an odd, dark pigmentation; almost blue when compared to the snow. Tarma shook his head in disbelief. This was the same thing as what they just met. Then, remembering something, his eyes darted to the blonde girl just feet away.

“Eri! Hey, I know you’re feeling like shit,” he unintentionally spat at her. For whatever reason, his pent up frustration came bursting out like a faucet. “But you gotta gimme some help here! I need you to pay attention!” As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he began preparing an apology. Whether he’d apologize for snapping to a guilty or angry Eri, he wasn’t sure yet.

But Eri’s response never came. She just stood there looking at him like a deer in headlights.

“Eri!? Hey, did you hear me? Earth to Eri…” Tarma softened his tone and walked up to her. She was leaning against large rock, roughly double her size, and looked as if she had seen a ghost. “Eri, are you all right? What’s wrong?”

The P.F. Squad Captain knelt down a few inches to look directly at her. Eri’s face was death-stricken pale and her eyes were glazed over. Tarma could barely even see her breath condensing in the air. It was as if she had stopped breathing. Tarma’s instincts kicked in and he began gently shaking her.

“Eri… Eri! Snap out of it! Come on!” She wasn’t reacting to him at all. He frantically looked her up and down, thinking of any detail that would give him an answer. Had that thing attacked her? If it did, he definitely would have heard it…

Then he remembered. Tarma snatched Eri’s left arm, with her right still holding her against the rock, and looked at it. Even with his silly gauze covering her injury, it was bad. Tarma took it off as if he was diffusing a bomb. The scratch she received from the pitiful man earlier had swollen beyond belief. The better part of Eri’s forearm was practically purple, and the three scrapes were enflamed red.

“You have to be shitting me…”

As if Tarma’s mental diagnosis wasn’t bad enough, Eri began to fidget. Her right arm holding her up moved off the rock and towards Tarma, as if reaching for a final lifeline. Tarma gently grabbed her hand with his and led her limp body to the ground. He yelled her name a few more times, hoping it would do something. Praying she would bounce up and start laughing at him for acting like a baby. But instead her body continued shaking on the ground.

Tarma could do nothing but put his sunglasses over his eyes, attempting to shield himself from his friend’s vehement suffering. So this was it? That absurd, fanatical thought which sat in the back of his mind was true? And though Eri would surely smack him upside the head were she conscious, Tarma couldn’t stop saying the phrase in his mind. In layman’s terms…

Eri was turning into a zombie.


	10. Chapter 10

It had begun to snow. The Ural mountain range in Western Russia was no stranger to harsh winter climate, and it showed during this late September night as the temperature dropped substantially. The few groups of indigenous people who dwelled in these peaks were no doubt resting in their shelters, away from the cold and oblivious to the horrors which were taking place near one particular summit. Mount Narodnaya was the highest peak in the Urals, as well as the location of a plane crash. A passenger airliner had been heading towards the northern city of Novy Urengoy from Moscow when it mysteriously crashed within the mountain range. A plane crash was not the only incident that occurred here, however.

Tarma walked down the trail with enough fervor to cause an avalanche. His sunglasses covered his eyes and a grim line of desperation formed over his mouth. In his arms: a comatose Eri. Her injured arm was a stark grayish blue, and Tarma only hoped the infection, or whatever it was, took more time to go through the rest of her body. Every few minutes he would pull her close to check if she was still breathing. Her strained breath was the only positive thing he could find. Her limbs were like icicles and if this condition wouldn’t kill her than the cold surely would. The captain wrapped his large yellow tactical vest around her as tightly as possible, but it could only provide so much in terms of warmth. Now only in his bloody tank top, the PF Squad Captain traveled down the mountain trail as swiftly as possible. The only thing to do now was dive right in. Things certainly couldn’t get much worse.

The crash site would be the only place he’d get answers, if he’d even get any. He replayed everything up until now through his head. A plane crashed and most of the passengers were clearly killed. But there were some alive… And they were messed up. Something happened that he didn’t know about. Were those ‘zombies’ really the passengers? Or were they others? There must’ve been outside involvement in this. People don’t just turn into zombies because of a plane crash. They just die…

“Right…?”

Tarma whispered out loud. Who was he talking to? Himself?

Eri?

He looked down at the woman and his blood boiled. Why did it have to be her? She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to be a zombie, among other things. He should have come alone. She came to protect _him_ out of the goodness of her heart, and he’s the one who let _her_ down. And now she was going to die. No, it would be worse than that. She wouldn’t get a last word or one final look before she drifted off; her body would mutate and her carnal mind would turn against them both. And then it was kill or be killed…

Tarma shook his head vigorously, almost whipping his sunglasses off his face. He was completely out of it. Thinking about those kinds of things wouldn’t help anyone. Besides, zombie or no, he’d be damned if he was forced to kill one of his friends. This was the Rebel Army’s fault. It had to be, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

But first thing was first: Eri needed help. Gently shifting the blonde in his arms, he dove into his vest pocket on Eri with one hand and took out his radio transmitter. Now that he thought about it, they should have done a better job finalizing their communication plan. Marco said the nearest Regular base was in Moscow and that he should contact them for pickup, but was that it? Could he rely on them, let alone reach them in these mountains? He was about to find out.

He turned the knob on his device to the frequency he was told and held it up to his mouth, all the while juggling Eri and walking down the snowy hill. He pursed his lips and racked his mind for the proper voice protocol. He didn’t know who he was contacting in Moscow after all.

“Moscow, Moscow, Moscow this is Peregrine Falcons Squad Captain Tarmicle Roving, over.”

He released the button and held the radio up to his ear, waiting for anything other than static; praying it would be _something_ other than static. But of course, that’s all it was.

“Moscow, Moscow, Moscow this is Peregrine Falcons Squad Captain Tarmicle Roving, do you copy? Over.”

“Come on, you piece of shit…” he swore and shook the device, making sure his finger was off the button. Then he heard it; a few static muffles coming from the radio. With his one barely free hand, he twisted the knob to get a better transmittance.

_“—is Bogdan Moscow, over.”_

Tarma thrust the radio from his ear to his mouth as if he hadn’t talked to a human in months.

“Say again! Over!”

There was a pause and Tarma immediately regretted his response. Screw this formal protocol and what they had to say, he needed help and he needed it now.

 _“Who is this?”_ The muffled voice on the other side asked shortly.

“Captain Tarmicle Roving of the Peregrine Falcons Squad. Is this Moscow? Over.”

There was another pause. Either they didn’t hear him or were talking backstage, hopefully the latter.

 _“Tarmicle Roving of the Peregrine Falcons Squad, this is Moscow Regular Base control tower 3, codename Bogdan,”_ the voice spoke. It was clearly Russian with its deep accent, but Tarma didn’t care about the details. He needed to be heard.

_“You are on mission in the Urals, yes? Accompanied by… SPARROWS Staff Sergeant Eri Kasamoto. Can I have conformation on her status? Over.”_

Of all the…

“This is P.F. Squad Captain Roving. No, you can’t. She’s incapacitated and needs help _now_. Requesting pickup _immediately._ ” Tarma responded with a harsh tone. He had a feeling that getting what he wanted, which wasn’t much given the situation, was going to be much harder than it should be.

_“This is Bogdan. Captain, you and Sergeant Kasamoto are under stealth protocol. We do not have sufficient intelligence regarding Rebel forces in area; thereby your request for pickup cannot be granted until further information is relayed. Ov-”_

The Japanese man nearly crushed the radio in his hand, “ _You listen to me,_ ” he spoke dangerously, cutting off the voice. “The plane has been found and the passengers who survived have been infected with… _something_ , and so has Kasamoto. Clearly Rebel forces are involved, now get me a goddamn chopper up here before your precious intel mission fails to high hell!”

Another long pause, one which eradicated what little patience Tarma had left.

“Where’s your supervisor?! Put them on! I’m sick of talking to you!!” He yelled. At this rate he’d attract every zombie or soldier in the nearest mile. After a few more seconds of static passed, a much clearer voice echoed through the radio.

_“Tarma, sweetheart, what’s all the fuss about?”_

The man narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows. Who dared sweet talk Tarmicle Roving III? He was the only sweet talker in the Regular Army as far as he was concerned. Everyone he knew would disagree, but what did they know?

“Who is this?” He was short, dry, and not in the mood to play games.

_“You don’t know? Well, I wouldn’t expect you to know I’m here in Moscow…”_

The mature voice wrapped itself around Tarma’s ears and he dug through his mind for an answer. No, it couldn’t be…

“This better not be Sophia Greenville.”

There was a laugh from the other end, _“Don’t sound so happy, Tarma.”_

“What are you doing in Russia?”

 _“Oh you know… Just one of those business trips. I’ll be back in the states in a few days, so we can catch up then. I’m sure you have_ so _much to tell me.”_

Tarma opened his mouth but said nothing. It had been nearly two years since he had seen the former drill instructor. She had been stationed all across the United States, and with the wars taking place, Marco and Tarma had not seen many friends, Sophia included. He had even heard that she retired from the military…

_“Now then, my friend here says you’ve been giving him a hard time. Care to explain yourself, Tarm?”_

“Don’t call me that,” he barked. What was he doing, listening to her like this? Eri could start eating him any second and here he was engaging in small talk. “Nothing personal Sophia, but I don’t have time to talk. What I need is for you to send someone here _now._ This mission is over.”

The American woman sighed from the other end, _“You know you can’t just leave Tarma. You just got there—“_

“I don’t _CARE_! Eri is going to die! _Do I make myself clear?!_ ” She had only a few seconds to respond before Tarma crushed the radio to pieces.

_“Eri? You mean Miss Kasamoto? I wasn’t aware she was with you…”_

“Like I told your Russian friend there, she is, and she’s not going to hold out for much longer. Now I’m asking you Sophia, please get us some help.” Tarma hated how he sounded. A pleading Tarma was a pathetic Tarma, but in his eyes the situation called for it. “Please? For me?”

…

_“No.”_

“What?”

_“I’ll do it for Miss Kasamoto, not you.”_

Tarma let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in, “Thank God… Sophia, you’re the—“

“Save it. I can send a chopper from somewhere closer to you, but it’ll still take roughly two hours to get there and two hours to get back. Four hours round—“

“Fuck!”

“Tarma! Watch your mouth!”

“Damn it, that’s too long!! We don’t have time!” He shouted into the radio for the umpteenth time, more out of desperation than anger. With the way Eri’s arm had changed over the past hour or so, he doubted another four would suit her well.

Sophia’s voice softened considerably, _“Tarma… That’s the best I can do. Our fighter pilots are on leave and there aren’t any jets up by Novy Urengoy…”_ Perhaps she finally realized Tarma wasn’t acting. _“Is it…really that bad? Is there nothing else you can do?”_

Tarma looked at the blonde in question and his already-gritted teeth clenched even further, “Sophia, you gotta hear me out. We met someone in the mountains not too long ago, most likely a survivor of the crash. He was practically dead…and then…he turned into a zombie and attacked Eri. I know it sounds insanely stupid, but I found the airliner and the bodies. Some of them are moving. They’re just pacing and limping back and forth. I’m a safe distance away, but from what I can tell they’re like the guy we saw before…” The P.F. Squad Captain told Sophia everything that happened so far. He nearly ran out of breath towards the end of it. “Something happened here. Something happened to these people, and now that _something_ happened to Eri. She just collapsed and it’s like she’s infected or something. I don’t know what to do— There’s no time— She’s gonna fucking die—“

_“Tarma, please. You need to calm down. I’ve sent for a chopper to come pick you up. In the meantime, you might as well search around for any more clues. Maybe you can find out what it actually is. Who knows, maybe it’s just frostbite…”_

“Sophia, it is _not_ frostbite.”

_“Well, I don’t know! Just keep her safe, Tarma. That’s all I can tell you. Now you’d better get going. You’ve got no more than two hours to sniff around. We’re all praying for Miss Kasamoto, trust me.”_

Tarma took a deep breath and tried to calm his almost shaking body. She was right. Worrying wasn’t going to fix Eri. He needed to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully his partner just held out in time… “You’re right. Thanks, Sophia. I couldn’t do this without you.”

_“Of course you couldn’t. Stay safe, sweetie.”_

“I’ll try and remember that.”

With a grimace, Tarma stuffed the device back into his vest pocket. Not even Sophia’s endearing personality could break him away from the dreadful situation he found himself stuck in. _‘Well, nothing to do now but find out what’s going on,’_ he thought to himself. He looked down at the woman in his arms, something he’d been doing every minute on the clock. She was still knocked out. Her infected arm dangled away from him, while her other arm sat comfortably against his torso. He shifted her in his arms again, trying to keep her head positioned on his shoulder. He’d have to move the SPARROWS soldier again if he ever came across anything, since he had little mobility in both his arms.

Tarma finally made it to the base of the mountain he had been climbing down and made a sharp left, nearly 180 degrees from the way he came. Being on flat ground, he picked up his pace, not having to worry about slipping down a hill. He’d have to walk a bit farther around the mountain to reach the crash site, but it was the only way there; he _had_ considered sliding down the side of the mountain, but thought better of it.

“Sorry, girl. Hang tight,” he whispered to his friend before heaving her over his left shoulder, freeing his right arm in the process. He pulled his service pistol off his belt and reloaded it as he walked. Something told him he’d have a few more run-ins with some _zombies_.

He hated this. By now, he blamed the Rebel Army completely. No one else could be careless enough to spread a zombie infection. When were they going to stop screwing around with this kind of stuff? No wonder the aliens had betrayed them.

Tarma walked along the mountain side in an effort to avoid getting lost in the darkness. Luckily, the moon gave him sufficient sight of the mountain above him, so he was sure he’d be able to see the cliff that jutted out where he first saw the crash. It was only a matter of time until he made it. As if to answer his patience, he looked out across the field of snow and was met with what looked to be one of the airplane’s wings. The large, flat slab of structural steel was bent at an angle and sticking out of the ground. It may have broken off against one of the mountains and spiraled into the dirt below. Either way, the crash was certainly bad. The Captain noted it was barely a mile away, so he was getting close to the rest.

As the soldier rounded one of the mountain’s many jagged corners, he heard something. Stopping in his tracks and ignoring the shiver down his spine, Tarma lifted his sunglasses and frantically looked around him. He couldn’t see very far, what with the moon being his only source of light. He felt Eri shiver and instinctively brought his hands up to steady her limp body.

Then he heard it again. It was almost a low, guttural sound, and it reminded him of those damn mummies they had fought down in the catacombs. Still seeing nothing, Tarma continued walking. Eri was at the forefront of his mind, and if getting attacked by a few zombies was necessary to save her, then so be it.

It wasn’t long before a higher pitched, equally distorted moan began. Within minutes, several others joined in, and Tarma thought he was going insane. With a few more steps he was there.

The PF Squad Captain looked across the field of snow. The broken, snow-covered hull served as a barrier along with the nearby mountain, keeping some of the ‘survivors’ locked in a large area of snow. They were the next subjects of his focus. There were nearly thirty bodies in the plain before him. A majority of them were moving, albeit slowly; some were crawling through the snow while others were awkwardly limping. The sight perturbed Tarma greatly.

They kept groaning, and it was starting to _freak_ him out. Some finally saw him and began limping forward at speeds that would make a snail seem fast. Sighing, Tarma lit a cigarette and placed it between his cracked lips. Readying both Eri and his gun, he began trudging through the snow to meet his guests. He needed something to take his anger out on; the least he could do was put these poor people out of their misery.

_‘No time like the present.’_


End file.
